Let me set the headlines aside for a moment and tell you what I am actually seeing. After a quiet stretch, the phone is ringing again. Showings have picked up noticeably, buyers who went quiet during travel season are booking tours, and a few listings that had been sitting are suddenly drawing real activity. The official numbers will catch up in a few weeks, but word of mouth catches it first, and right now the word is that Central Texas is waking back up.

That tracks with the broader outlook. Texas A&M's Real Estate Research Center projects statewide home sales rising about 2.5 percent this year with prices firming slightly, a measured recovery rather than a boom. And mortgage rates have held steady in the mid-6s, around 6.5 percent, steady enough that buyers are choosing to move rather than keep waiting.

THE RATE BACKDROP

Rates are the backdrop to all of this. The 30-year fixed sits around 6.5 percent, a touch below where it stood a year ago. After bottoming near 5.98 percent in February, it climbed into the mid-6s by spring and has held there, steady enough that buyers have stopped waiting for a big drop.

Average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, 2026. Source: Freddie Mac.

The Fed held steady in June and is split on its next move, so the mid-6s look likely to hold near-term. The one thing worth watching is the July 14 inflation report, which could nudge rates either way.

One quiet option worth mentioning. If you would rather not keep waiting on a sale, the rental side has been the steady one, leases up nearly 8 percent year over year and homes leasing in about three weeks. That is where Inspira Property Management comes in, from simply placing a good tenant to managing the whole thing. No pressure at all, but if you ever want to know what your place would rent for, I am happy to run the numbers.

Learn more at inspirapm.com

If your home is on the market

The market is firming as summer buyers re-engage, but that strength flows to homes that are priced right. Most buyer activity clusters in the mid-price range, so if that is where you sit, the traffic is there, as long as your price meets it.

The homes that linger are almost always priced ahead of the market. If showings are light or you have been listed a while, one decisive move to current comps does more than a slow drip of small cuts, and it puts you in front of buyers now, while summer demand is at its peak.

If you are buying

You still have negotiating room, but it is narrowing as the market firms and summer buyers return. The best homes, especially in the popular mid-price range, are drawing competition again. With rates more likely to rise than fall in the near term and the July 14 inflation report as the next test, locking a rate now carries less risk than betting on a drop the Fed is no longer promising. Get fully underwritten, not just pre-qualified, so when the right home shows up you can move before someone else does.

WHERE THINGS STAND LOCALLY

The through-line this year has been a steady, unglamorous recovery. After a slow and price-conscious start, buyers adjusted to higher rates and stepped back in, and activity has built through the spring and into summer. It is not a frenzy, and it does not lift every home, well-priced ones are moving while overpriced ones still wait, but the momentum is real and it matches what we are seeing on the ground. The official June report publishes in the next week or two, and I will send the specifics as soon as it lands.

Listed, holding a rental, or just weighing your options? Let's run your real numbers.

For a listing, that means updated comps and where today's buyer budgets actually land at current rates. For a rental or an underperforming Airbnb, it means a current rent analysis and what a conversion would look like. Either way, no obligation, just real numbers instead of guesswork. Reply or call and I will put it together for you.

Talk soon,

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What I'm hearing in the market right now

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