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Houston's luxury real estate market brought in $5.7 billion in 2024

3217 Del Monte Drive, Houston home for sale

There's no shortage of luxury homes in Houston.

Photo courtesy of HAR.com

A new 2024 report from Texas Realtors has revealed the number of homes that sold in the state for $1 million or more increased 10 percent from last year to reach its second-highest peak ever recorded.

According to the report's findings – which calculated sales data from November 2023 to October 2024 – Texas' luxury real estate market accounted for $21.4 billion in economic activity. The period from November 2021 to October 2022 still holds the current statewide record, which is $22.6 billion.

A total 12,888 homes sold for at least $1 million during this time, which represented nearly 16 percent of all Texas residential home sales.

May 2024 was the busiest month for Texas' luxury home sales. Nearly 1,580 homes were sold that month for $1 million or more. Meanwhile, January was the slowest month with only 610 million-dollar homes sold.

"The high end of the Texas real estate market continues to evolve," said Christy Gessler, Chairman of Texas Realtors, in a press release. "As prices rise, more homes cross the million-dollar threshold. Some are highly valued for their size or amenities, but with many, the key factor is location."

Luxury real estate performance in Houston
The report further revealed that the second-highest share (26.2 percent) of Texas luxury homes were located in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area, amounting to nearly $5.7 billion.

A total 3,371 luxury homes were sold in the Houston area from November 2023 to October 2024; 10 percent more than the previous year. These million-dollar real estate purchases accounted for 16 percent of all residential sales dollar volume in the metro.

The median size of a million-dollar home that sold in Houston last October came out to 4,406 square feet, whereas the median size of all residential homes sold for the month was less than half that size – only 2,093 square feet.

In a similar vein, the average price-per-square-foot for a luxury home sold in Houston in October came out to $389, whereas the price-per-square-foot for all residential homes sold in the area was only $180.

Houston's share of high-end homes can be located in various affluent areas, from a massive Memorial mansion to a French-inspired Hunters Creek Village estate, or even a renovated Tudor home in West U.

Previously, Houston ranked as the No. 18 U.S. city with the most million-dollar homes on the market.

Luxury real estate in other Texas metros
Houston came in second to Dallas-Fort Worth, which constituted 38.7 percent of all million-dollar home sales in Texas. Austin-Round Rock had the third-highest share (19.1 percent) of statewide luxury real estate sales.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, 4,992 luxury homes were sold from October 2023 to November 2024, raking in $8.5 billion in total sales dollar volume. Meanwhile, 2,461 luxury homes were sold in the Austin area to bring in $4.1 billion, the report said.

Here's how the average price-per-square foot and median home size compared across these two Texas metros in October 2024:

$394 – average price per square foot for a million-dollar home in Dallas-Fort Worth
$510 – average price per square foot for a million-dollar home in Austin
4,212 square feet – median size of a luxury home in Dallas-Fort Worth
3,440 square feet – median size of a luxury home in Austin

Additionally, 5.1 percent of all million-dollar homes sold statewide were located in San Antonio-New Braunfels. That means 656 luxury homes were sold in this metro, which brought in $957 million. In a one-month analysis for October 2024, the median size of a million-dollar home sold in the Alamo City came out to 4,118 square feet, which sold for an average price of $357 per square foot.

Elsewhere in Texas, just under 11 percent of the state's luxury home sales were located outside the four biggest metros, or 1,408 homes.

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Market Upset

Houston shocks as one of 10 worst big cities for first-time homebuyers

Row of houses in Houston, Houston homes for sale

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Houston is the worst Texas city for first-time buyers.

The Houston housing market may not be for everyone. In a surprising turn of events, Houston has flopped to the bottom of a new list of the best U.S. cities for first-time homebuyers.

WalletHub's new study — which analyzes the affordability, quality of life, and real estate market in 300 U.S. cities — ranks Houston No. 271, or the 30th worst city overall in the U.S. to buy your first home. And, when broken down by city size, WalletHub ranks Houston the 9th worst big city for first-time buyers (No. 61 out of 69).

Houston's lack of appeal for first-time buyers is essentially due to its poor affordability and quality of life scores, rather than the state of the city's housing market, according to the report's findings.

H-town ranks 216th out of all 300 U.S. cities for its affordability, and it appears farther down the list for its quality of life, landing 284th nationally. Houston's cost of living, however, is better than most cities, ranking 51st overall.

The city's real estate market ranking is among the top 100 in the U.S., at No. 91, but that wasn't enough to outweigh its less-than-stellar rankings in the other main categories.

Other metrics (where No. 1 is the best and No. 150 is average) that factored into Houston's overall ranking include:

No. 31 – Total home energy cost
No. 77 – Rent-to-price ratio
No. 99 – Median home-price appreciation
No. 148 – Foreclosure rate
No. 246 – Real estate tax rate
No. 270 – Property crime rates

While Houston boasts the lowest Texas ranking on the list, it isn't the only Lone Star city that is less than favorable for first-time buyers. In fact, only one Texas spot — the Dallas suburb of McKinney — lands among the top 100 of the report. A total of 20 Texas cities rank outside the top 100, with Laredo (No. 200), Mesquite (No. 202), San Antonio (No. 208), and Dallas (No. 233) joining Houston as the state's worst.

First-time buyers across the country are entering the housing market at a difficult time, the report says. The National Association of Realtors reported the share of first-time homebuyers sank to an all-time low in 2025, to 21 percent, whereas the historic national average is 40 percent.

"Buying a home for the first time is an exciting and important milestone for many Americans, but achieving that milestone is getting more difficult as prices and interest rates continue to rise," the report's author wrote. "People willing and able to invest in a house this year must balance what they want and need with what they can afford. Often, people begin searching for their dream home without a realistic idea of market prices, interest rates or even their eligibility for a mortgage."

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