Bidding Wars Fade Across Texas as Most Buyers Face Zero Opponents

Although home prices and mortgage rates remain high, Texas homebuyers are faced with one less challenge as they shop the market: Competition is down.

In a survey conducted by Texas Realtors, a professional membership organization with over 145,000 members, 69% of respondents said their buyers did not have to compete against other offers this year.

The data was collected as part of the 2026 Texas Homebuying Experience Report, which provides a glimpse into Texas Realtors members’ “perceptions about their work with buyers.”

The number of real estate agents who said their buyers didn’t have to compete against other offers increased from 57% in the the organization’s 2025 report.

Levi Rodgers, former Green Beret and current CEO of LRG Realty in San Antonio, TX, says the 69% figure matches his experience. Of his last three offers written in San Antonio, two were the only offer on the house, and both closed with the seller contributing to closing costs. These are very different circumstances than he was seeing a few years back.

“In 2021, my veteran buyers were losing five and six competing offers before getting theirs accepted,” Rodgers tells Realtor.com®. “Right now, a zero-down VA offer with concessions that would have gotten us a laugh four years ago is accepted on the first shot.”

The percentage of agents whose buyers felt they had many homes available to choose from also increased, from 25% in 2025 to 32% in 2026.

The report shows that 37% of Texas agents responded that their buyers felt they had “plenty of time” when looking at a home, compared to only 2% that felt “very pressed for time.”

To have a market with less competition and pressure on buyers, a steady inventory must be maintained. According to Rodgers, Texas succeeded in this element of the market.

“Texas never stopped building. While other markets were experiencing price increases, San Antonio and the surrounding corridors continued to produce housing through the rate increase cycle. Then when pricing started to stabilize, investors and the relocation wave started to dwindle at the same time. More housing options with less competition,” he explains.

Having plenty of options for homes is a double-edged sword. Buyers were given leverage they haven’t had in years, which allowed them to ask for rate concessions, closing cost contributions, and repairs to inspection findings, according to Rodgers. However, it can also create decision paralysis for buyers.

Erwin Nicholas, a licensed broker with his company, Mr. Real Estate in Houston, tells Realtor.com that his simple solution to this challenge is to show buyers a limited number of homes that fit their needs.

“I'm not the broker for clients who want to 'see everything.' I show my clients a set number of homes, chosen from my experience and from criteria that protect resale value from the start,” says Nicholas. “When buyers don't trust that process, the sheer number of options can make the homebuying process much harder for them.”

The majority of buyers, 44%, walked through between four and 10 homes before purchasing, according to Texas Realtors survey.

If a potential buyer stopped or paused a search, there were three common explanations: life circumstances changed for 39%; desired home features were not available for 36%; and the available homes were too expensive for 34%. Only 6% of potential buyers stopped or paused their search because too few homes were available, the study found.

Texas is a cool buyer’s market as of September 2026, according to the Realtor.com Market Hotness Index, with the supply of homes greater than the demand for homes.

The median listing price statewide is $359,990, down 2.4% from September 2025. The median days on the market is 64, just above the national average of 60, showcasing that buyers have time on their side when making a decision.