Published October 18, 2026 in Market Update

The Woodlands still moved more than 1,000 homes this summer

By Stacey Brown

Real estate, The Woodlands, TX

Goodness, rates have moved. Realtor.com reported that mortgage rates climbed above 7% in September 2026 for the first time since January 2025. Higher monthly payments are real. But the market here kept moving anyway.

The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 1,096 homes sold across The Woodlands in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is down just 1.1% from the same three months in 2025. One year, one percent. Homes are still changing hands at a steady pace.

Realtor.com also noted that price cuts reached 20.8% of listings nationally in September 2026, the highest share since October 2022. That is worth knowing if you are setting a price. Buyers have more choices, and they are watching list prices closely.

How each ZIP code read this summer

The Woodlands covers several ZIP codes, and each one told a different story. Here is what the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted for the three months ending August 31, 2026.

What moved fastest

ZIP 77381 had the shortest median time on market. The Real Estate Data Aggregator put it at 23 days, with 2.1 months of supply. That is the tightest inventory of any ZIP code here. New listings in 77381 were down 21.2% from a year ago, so fewer homes came to market and buyers competed for what was there.

ZIP 77382 moved nearly as fast. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted a median of 25 days on market, unchanged from a year ago. That consistency matters. Even with inventory up 25.8% year over year, homes there sold in the same time as last summer.

Where prices moved

Most ZIP codes saw median prices dip a little from a year ago. ZIP 77380 saw the largest shift: the Real Estate Data Aggregator put its median sale price at $441,350, down 19% from the same period in 2025. ZIP 77382 was down 8.4%, landing at $595,000.

Two ZIP codes went the other direction. ZIP 77385 saw its median rise 6.3% to $372,000. ZIP 77386 edged up 1.2% to $420,000. So price movement was not uniform. Your street may read very differently from the ZIP code as a whole.

Sellers are still getting close to list price

Even with rates above 7%, sellers across The Woodlands are closing near their asking prices. The Real Estate Data Aggregator showed sale-to-list ratios ranging from 97.3% in ZIP 77382 to 98.2% in ZIP 77385. That means most sellers gave up only a small amount from their list price.

Fewer homes sold above list price than a year ago in most ZIP codes. ZIP 77385 was the exception: its share of above-list sales rose 11.6 points to 17%, according to the Real Estate Data Aggregator. ZIP 77389 also gained, up 3.6 points to 11.5%.

The broader picture

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that U.S. home prices rose 2.6% from July 2025 to July 2026, and 0.3% from June to July on a seasonally adjusted basis. That slow, steady national gain is the backdrop for what you see here.

Pending sales across The Woodlands were down 8.9% from a year ago, the Real Estate Data Aggregator showed. That is worth watching. Fewer contracts signed now can mean fewer closings a month or two from now. It is not alarming, but it is honest.