San Antonio Housing Market – August 2026 Update
Hello, Alamo City! Here’s your monthly snapshot of the San Antonio real estate scene!
If you only look at home prices, the San Antonio housing market does not look all that bad. But that is not what I am hearing from people actually trying to sell houses.
The message I keep hearing from investors, agents, and others in the business is remarkably consistent:
You can’t sell anything.
Obviously, that is an exaggeration. More than 3,000 homes closed in August. But talk to people with properties on the market and you hear the same frustrations—very few showings, homes sitting much longer than expected, price reductions that generate little additional activity, and buyers who seem to be in absolutely no hurry.
Interestingly, the headline pricing numbers do not fully reflect that level of weakness.
And there is another wrinkle that makes this market even harder to understand.
You would think this environment would be great for my business buying houses by taking over existing mortgage payments. If homeowners were becoming increasingly desperate to sell, I would expect those opportunities to increase.
That isn’t happening either. Our lead flow on those deals has been relatively quiet.
So perhaps the best description of this market isn’t simply that buyers have disappeared.
Both buyers and sellers seem reluctant to make a move.
That disconnect is the story I see in August’s numbers.
Single-Family Home Prices: The Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story
Prices moved lower in three of the four sources reporting August data.
Median Price Snapshot
- Redfin: $264,825, essentially unchanged from $264,856
- Realtor.com: $284,102, down from $290,818
- Zillow: $247,453, down from $249,689
- SABOR: $299,275, down from $315,000
Realtor.com declined about 2.3%, Zillow fell about 0.9%, and SABOR dropped approximately 5%. Redfin was essentially unchanged.
My Take
If you looked only at prices, you might conclude that San Antonio is experiencing a fairly normal softening.
That is not what it feels like on the ground.
Almost everyone I talk to who is actively involved in the market tells me the same thing: selling a house right now is extremely difficult.
Properties are sitting. Showings are limited. Buyers have plenty of choices and very little urgency.
But here’s where my interpretation gets complicated.
If sellers were truly becoming desperate, I would expect to see more opportunities in my own business. We specifically look for situations where a homeowner needs another solution and we can purchase the property by taking over the existing mortgage payments.
In theory, a difficult traditional sales market should generate more of those opportunities.
So far, it really hasn’t.
That makes me think this market may be less about widespread distress and more about inactivity.
Sellers who don’t have to sell may simply be staying put. Buyers who don’t have to buy are doing the same thing.
The people caught in the middle are the ones who actually need to complete a transaction.
Days on Market: Homes Are Sitting Longer
August’s days-on-market numbers support some of what we are hearing on the street.
Days on Market
- Redfin: 58 days
- Realtor.com: 64 days, up from 60
- Zillow: 41 days, up from 36
- SABOR: 82 days, up from 81
Redfin did not have a July number in my data, so I am leaving it out of the month-over-month comparison.
Every other source showed homes taking longer to sell in August.
My Take
This is closer to what I am seeing and hearing.
Realtor.com added four days, Zillow added five, and SABOR increased another day.
But even days on market doesn’t completely capture how difficult the market feels.
A property can sit for weeks with almost no activity and then eventually find a buyer. That transaction ultimately becomes part of the sales statistics, but the data doesn’t show you what those weeks felt like for the seller.
Right now, what I hear repeatedly is that showing activity is extremely weak.
Buyers don’t seem to feel any pressure to make a decision.
Listing Performance: Sellers Are Adjusting Before the Sale
Interestingly, the final sale-to-list numbers barely changed in August.
Listing Performance
- Zillow homes selling below asking: 58%, up slightly from 57.8%
- Zillow sale price as a percentage of list price: 98.8%, unchanged
- SABOR close-to-original-list ratio: 92.8%, down from 93%
- Redfin sale-to-list ratio: 97%
On the surface, those numbers do not look terrible.
My Take
This is another example of why you have to look beyond the headline number.
If homes ultimately sell for around 98.8% of their final asking price, it sounds like sellers are holding firm.
But SABOR’s close-to-original-list ratio was only 92.8%.
A seller may start too high, get very little activity, reduce the price several times, and eventually sell relatively close to the new asking price.
The final sale-to-list number looks healthy.
The experience of getting there may have been anything but.
That is why pricing correctly from the beginning is so important in this market.
Sales Activity: This Is Where the Weakness Really Shows
SABOR reported 3,104 homes sold in August, down from 3,328 in July.
That is a 6.7% decline in just one month.
My Take
This number lines up much more closely with what I am hearing.
Yes, some of the decline is probably seasonal.
But when you combine a 6.7% decline in sales with longer days on market and reports of weak showing activity, the picture becomes clearer.
People simply aren’t transacting at the pace we would like to see.
I think that distinction matters.
My first instinct was to describe this as a lack of buyers. There is certainly some truth to that.
But the quiet activity in my own acquisition business makes me think it is broader than that.
We aren’t seeing a flood of homeowners desperately searching for alternatives either.
It feels more like a market where a lot of people—on both sides—have decided to wait.
Inventory: Falling for the Wrong Reason?
This is where August gets particularly interesting.
After months of increasing inventory, two major sources showed fewer homes for sale.
Active Listings
- SABOR: 16,940, down from 17,567
- Realtor.com: 14,722, down from 15,040
- Zillow: 8,607, up from 8,465
SABOR inventory declined approximately 3.6%, while Realtor.com fell roughly 2.1%. Zillow increased about 1.7%.
SABOR months of inventory also fell from 6.11 months to 5.87 months.
Normally, declining inventory would sound like good news for sellers.
I am not convinced that is what is happening.
My Take
My suspicion is that some potential sellers are hearing how difficult the market is and simply deciding not to list.
Existing sellers may also be pulling properties after an unsuccessful summer rather than accepting a price they don’t like.
But I also need to acknowledge a counterpoint to that theory.
If sellers were becoming increasingly desperate, I would expect more of them to be looking for alternative ways to sell.
That should be good for my business.
It hasn’t been particularly busy.
So rather than saying falling inventory is purely the result of discouraged or distressed sellers, I think a better explanation may be that homeowners who have flexibility are simply choosing not to participate in this market at all.
They’re not listing.
They’re not necessarily calling investors.
They’re just staying where they are.
We cannot prove that from the inventory data alone, and Zillow actually showed inventory increasing in August. But it fits much better with what I am seeing on the ground.
Mortgage Rate Watch: The Standoff Continues
Mortgage rates moved higher again in August.
30-Year Mortgage Rates
- July: 6.65%
- August:6.76%
That is another move in the wrong direction for affordability.
My Take
I think mortgage rates help explain both sides of this strange market.
For buyers, today’s rates make the monthly payment expensive.
For existing homeowners, the opposite problem exists.
Many homeowners already have mortgages with rates far below what they could get today.
Selling means potentially giving up that mortgage and replacing it with a much more expensive one.
So we have a market where buyers aren’t excited about buying—and many homeowners aren’t excited about selling.
That creates a standoff.
Buyers don’t want today’s payment. Sellers don’t want to give up yesterday’s mortgage.
And when neither side feels pressure to act, transaction volume suffers.
Rental Market Snapshot: More Competition for Landlords
The rental market softened in August as well.
Rental Data
- SABOR active rentals: 5,024, up from 4,963
- SABOR median rent: $1,832, down from $1,877
- Zillow average rent: $1,386, down from $1,390
Unlike the for-sale market, rental inventory continued increasing while rents moved lower.
My Take
This one is a little easier to interpret.
More rentals are competing for tenants, and rents softened.
The SABOR median fell $45 in August, or about 2.4%. Zillow’s decline was much smaller at only $4.
I would not make too much of one month, but landlords need to recognize that tenants have choices.
This probably isn’t the market to hold a property vacant for another month trying to squeeze out an additional $50 or $100 in rent.
Vacancy gets expensive very quickly.
For now, I would describe San Antonio’s rental market as weak with little change of improvement until spring.
Looking Ahead: What Could Finally Un-Stick This Market?
The more I look at the numbers and compare them with what I am hearing on the ground, the more I think “stuck” is the best description of the San Antonio housing market.
Buyers are hesitant. Sellers who don’t have to sell appear reluctant to list. Homes already on the market are struggling to generate activity. And even my business buying houses by taking over existing mortgage payments has been surprisingly quiet.
It feels like a lot of people are simply waiting.
The question is: What are they waiting for?
There are several things that could change the mood.
A resolution—or even meaningful de-escalation—in the war with Iran could remove one major source of economic uncertainty.
But I am becoming more inclined to think the bigger issue may simply be November’s elections and what happens afterward.
This isn’t just a national midterm election for Texans. We also have two major statewide races on the ballot: U.S. Senate and governor.
That is a lot of political uncertainty packed into one election.
My suspicion is that some people are simply waiting to see how everything shakes out—what Washington looks like after the midterms, what happens in the major Texas races, and what all of it ultimately means for the economy, interest rates, government policy and consumer confidence.
I can’t prove from the housing data that the elections are causing people to sit on the sidelines. But it fits what I am seeing.
People who can wait seem perfectly willing to wait.
That could make the remainder of 2026 unusually quiet.
Once the elections are behind us and there is more clarity about the political and economic environment—and hopefully more clarity surrounding Iran—we may finally see some people who have been sitting on the sidelines make a decision.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the market suddenly takes off. Mortgage rates and affordability will still matter enormously.
But sometimes markets don’t need great news.
They just need uncertainty to become certainty.
Right now, San Antonio doesn’t feel like a housing market that is crashing.
It feels like a market where buyers and sellers are both waiting for something to change.
And my guess is that we may not really know what this market wants to do until after November.
How’s Bill’s Business Doing?
Well, so much for things slowing down.
Last month, I thought we were finally coming out of a very busy summer and heading back toward something resembling normal. Apparently, I spoke too soon.
The vacant property I mentioned last month is one half of our duplex. We ended up doing some additional improvements to make the unit more attractive, and most of that work is now finished. Unfortunately, we still haven’t found a tenant.
We also had a long-term tenant move out of one of our fully furnished rentals.
At first, I thought we had gotten lucky. The house was clean and appeared to have been left in pretty good condition. Then I started looking a little closer.
Apparently, if it wasn’t nailed down, they took it.
Dishes, towels, silverware, shampoo, soap—you name it. None of those things individually is a major expense, but when you have to replace an entire house worth of little items, it adds up quickly. It also turned what I expected to be an easy turnover into another project that took quite a bit of time to put back together.
Matt’s old house has been another adventure. We had tenants there for roughly a month before they moved out, so we found ourselves turning that property over again almost immediately. Fortunately, we already have another tenant lined up and moving in Monday.
Then there is Corian Park, the property we bought earlier this year.
It is still sitting empty.
The frustrating part is that it is almost finished. I simply haven’t had enough time to get over there and finish the last few things that need to be done. Every time I think I am going to get caught up, another repair, turnover, or paperwork issue seems to move ahead of it on the list.
And the $5,000 roofing contractor mess is still hanging around as well. This is the contractor who took our deposit and performed no work. I still need to redo the small-claims filing, which is another one of those jobs that keeps getting pushed down the list while I deal with everything else.
At this point, I have finally admitted something I probably should have admitted a while ago:
I need help.
We are looking to hire a virtual assistant again.
Between managing the properties, coordinating repairs, dealing with tenants, keeping up with paperwork, bookkeeping and all the other administrative work that comes with the business—while still working my regular 9-to-5 job—I simply can’t keep up with everything myself.
The repairs and property issues are one thing. Those are part of owning rentals. What is becoming harder is trying to handle all of that while also staying on top of leases, documents, emails, records, follow-ups, bills, scheduling and the mountain of little administrative tasks that never seems to get smaller.
Hopefully, bringing a VA back into the business will let me get some of that off my plate and spend more time focusing on the things that actually require me to be involved.
Overall, the business is still in a good position. Most of these problems are temporary. The duplex is basically ready, the furnished rental is back together, Matt’s old house has another tenant moving in, and Corian Park is getting close.
But this past month has been another reminder that as the portfolio grows, trying to do everything yourself eventually stops being a strength and starts becoming the problem.
So my goal for the next month is pretty simple: fill the vacancies, finish Corian Park, get the contractor filing handled—and find someone who can help me keep up with everything else.
After writing last month that things were finally slowing down, I’m definitely not making that prediction again.
Final Thoughts
The San Antonio housing market still feels stuck. Prices have softened, homes are sitting longer, buyers have leverage, and sales activity feels weaker than the headline numbers make it look. At the same time, we are not seeing the kind of widespread distress or sharp price declines you would expect in a true housing crash.
Instead, buyers and sellers both seem hesitant.
Buyers are waiting for better affordability. Sellers are reluctant to cut prices too far. Homeowners who do not have to move are staying put. And the people who actually need to buy or sell are the ones trying to navigate a slow, frustrating market.
My own business has had a similar feel lately. We are still dealing with vacancies, turnovers, repairs, and unfinished projects, but the bigger challenge has become simply keeping up with everything. Between the properties, the paperwork, and my regular 9-to-5 job, we have reached the point where we are looking to bring on a virtual assistant again just to keep the operation moving.
For now, I think patience is still the name of the game.
This market is not falling apart, but it is definitely not moving smoothly either. Buyers are waiting. Sellers are waiting. Investors are waiting. And a lot of people seem to be looking for the same thing—a reason to finally make a move.
Right now, it feels like everyone is waiting for something to give.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next month.
If you’d like to discuss local market trends, evaluate potential investments, or bounce around ideas, feel free to reach out directly at homehelpsa@gmail.com or 210-972-9580.
Required-but-amusing legal note:
Per Redfin’s request (and their legal team’s gentle nudging), some of the data in this report is sourced from Redfin.
Some of the data in this report is sourced from Zillow, SABOR (San Antonio Board of REALTORS®), Realtor.com, and other third-party providers.
Friendly neighborhood disclaimer:
The thoughts, opinions, and interpretations shared in this report are my own and are provided for general informational purposes only. This is not financial, legal, or investment advice. Always do your own research and consult with a qualified professional before making real estate or investment decisions.
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