Good news for potential Houston-area homebuyers: Housing prices in the metro have come down as much as $12,000 since last year.

Typical home values in one particular suburb, Katy, have fallen 3.44 percent since February 2025. That's the 15th biggest drop in housing prices nationwide, according to a new report.

The new housing study from SmartAsset analyzed home values across the 100 biggest metro areas using Zillow’s Home Value Index tool for single-family homes, condos, and co-ops. Home value data was sourced for the month of February in 2021, 2025, and 2026.

The findings revealed housing prices in Katy are now standing at $335,844, down from $347,801 last year. In Houston, prices have fallen from $270,036 to $261,976 this year.

Here's how much cheaper housing prices are Spring:

• One year change: -0.69 percent
• Typical home value in 2025: $363,916
• Typical home value in 2026: $361,396

Housing prices in the Houston area have been on the decline since 2024, a separate study found, but SmartAsset said they're still about 23 percent higher than they were in 2021. And compared to Houston's pre-pandemic housing market in 2019, prices have ballooned by 38.5 percent.

Houston homeowners are now entering the best time of the year to sell their houses, which could add a sudden sense of competitiveness for buyers.

Home prices elsewhere around the U.S. have seen varying changes, according to the report.

"Between 2025 and 2026, the typical home value in large U.S. cities actually declined by 1.04 percent, with values dropping in 70 percent of cities," the report's author wrote. "But the full range of changes from market to market ran the gamut from -9.1 percent to +5.01 percent, putting both hopeful buyers and homeowners in starkly different environments across the nation."

The top three U.S. cities where home prices increased the most since 2025 are Toledo, Ohio (No. 2); Lincoln, Nebraska (No. 2); and San Francisco (No. 3).