A new housing affordability report has revealed Houston's first-time buyers are finally catching a small break with the income they need to purchase a starter home in 2026.

Houstonians need to earn $70,384 to afford a median-priced home in the metro area, or 4 percent less than they did last year, the Redfin report found.

Houston had the 9th biggest decline in the income needed to afford a starter home out of the 50 U.S. metros analyzed in the report. Redfin also determined that all starter home listings in Houston are "affordable" based on the city's median household income — which the report estimated at $90,865.

Houston's income requirement to afford a starter home is not far off from the national average, and affordability is improving slightly across the board. Americans need to make $70,693 to afford the typical starter home, according to the report's findings.

"The income needed to buy a starter home is declining while earnings are rising," the report said. "The typical American household earns an estimated $87,599, about $17,000 more than what’s needed to buy the median-priced U.S. starter home. That gap is widening: A year ago, the typical American earned roughly $12,500 more than they needed to buy a starter home."

Still, starter home affordability is "still often out of reach" for first-time homebuyers in expensive real estate markets due to "near high record" sale prices and soaring mortgage rates, the study said.

For comparison, this is the income needed to afford a starter home in other major Texas metros:

• Austin – $92,607 (down 6.1 percent)
• Dallas – $83,096 (down 5.1 percent)
• Fort Worth – $77,886 (down 4.9 percent)
• San Antonio – $62,859 (down 3.7 percent)

Unfortunately, affording a home in the overall housing market is further straining Americans' wallets. American households need to make just under $110,000 afford the typical U.S. home, but Redfin's evaluation found the typical household makes about $22,000 less than that.

"The discrepancy is partly because the overall market is driven by outsized price increases in the luxury segment, and outsized price increases in places like San Francisco and West Palm Beach, where affluent buyers are active," the report said. "At the same time, some would-be buyers of starter homes are pulling back because they typically earn less money and are more sensitive to affordability pressures."

The top 10 U.S. metros with the biggest declines in the income required to afford the typical starter home are:

• No. 1 – Austin, Texas
• No. 2 – Oakland, California
• No. 3 – Dallas, Texas
• No. 4 – Fort Worth, Texas
• No. 5 – Denver, Colorado
• No. 6 – San Francisco, California
• No. 7 – Phoenix, Arizona
• No. 8 – Las Vegas, Nevada
• No. 9 – Houston, Texas
• No. 10 – Los Angeles, California