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San Antonio home sales in 2026 could see a continuation of gains made by buyers last year.
Katie Griffin-Ross, the chair of the regional LERA Multiple Listing Service, used by many in the local real estate industry, said the San Antonio area housing market slowed down after a long streak.
"We've been running down I-35 at 85 miles an hour for a decade," she said. "And right now, we have cooled off to 60 miles an hour, and it feels like we are a turtle in peanut butter. We are not. We are normal now. It is how it should be now."
She said home prices started the new year steady, but buyers have more inventory to choose from.
Griffin-Ross foresees a 2026 with more wiggle room in home sales negotiations for buyers than we have seen in a long time.
"They have an opportunity to ask for some closing costs or ask for a price reduction," she said. "I don't think they're going to get the sun and the moon and the stars, but I do think they have the ability to stand their ground and get some in their favor."
Griffin-Ross said "I'll believe it, when I see it" when it comes to lower mortgage interest rates in 2026. But if lower mortgage rates do happen, she expects to see more buyers and sellers suddenly enter the market.
"If the interest rates do go down, we'll see an influx of buyers and we're going to see a little bit of competition from that," she said. "But I think we're also going to see that once interest rates go down, we're going to get more inventory on the market because some of the sellers that are living in the two-and-a-half, three, three-and-a-half percent interest rate (home) are going to say 'okay, it's low enough now, I'm willing to make a change.'"
And she had some advice for young, first-time home buyers. They should look for a lower-priced starter home to buy and build equity to help purchase their dream home later.
"There's a lot of entry-level buyers that think they need to live in the level of home that they moved out of when their parents were in their later years," Ross said. "And so, a little reality check, a little perspective of 'that's not where your parents started. That's where your parents got to.'"
Existing home sales outpaced new home sales in 2025, which may continue in 2026. Griffin-Ross said new home builders could no longer afford to carry on with some incentives for buyers, but existing sellers could.
Griffin-Ross expects some 2026 new home construction trends to cater to multigenerational living under one roof, such as two separate primary bedrooms. She said open designs will remain hot in new home construction this year, where the kitchen flows into the living room and the dining room area to create a grand gathering space.
She also said "additional dwelling units" on the same property will appeal to those in multigenerational living situations.
Griffin-Ross said the demand for home office space or additional office space is on the wane after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
