Selling

Should you list your Houston home before Thanksgiving?

Quick answer. Thanksgiving 2026 is Thursday, November 26. Listing before then can make sense when the price comes from recent comparable sales and the house can be shown through the holiday. It is a weaker plan when the house is not ready or nobody can let buyers in that week. Realtor.com’s Houston report, published November 5, 2026 and covering October MLS activity, put metro active listings at 35,620, up 4.9% from a year earlier, and newly listed homes at 8,340, down 12.2%. The median list price was $350,000. Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed rate averaged 7.18% as of November 5, down from 7.24% the week before and still above the 6.22% of a year earlier.

By Michael O'Neal, Broker and REALTOR®, Keller Williams Realty Northeast
Published November 7, 2026

What October data shows

Realtor.com published its Houston local market report on November 5, 2026. The page says the figures reflect October 2026 MLS activity. Source

These are the Houston metro figures in that report, with the national comparisons the same page includes:

• Active listings. 35,620, up 4.9% from a year earlier. The report says that gain trailed the national increase of 7.4%.
• Newly listed homes. 8,340, down 12.2% from a year earlier. The report says that drop was steeper than the national decrease of 7.5%.
• Median list price. $350,000, down 2.2% from a year earlier. The national median list price in the same report is $415,000.
• Median days on market. 57, up 0.9% from a year earlier. The national figure in the report is 63 days.
• Share of listings with a price cut. 20.3%. The national share in the report is 20.5%.

Those are list-side MLS figures for the Houston metro. They are not a count of homes that closed, and they are not a Kingwood, Atascocita, Humble, Woodlands, West University, or Bellaire report. Source

September’s closed-sale picture is a different month and a different set of numbers. I wrote that up from HAR in the Houston housing market update. I am not folding those September figures into this October list-price report.

Fewer new listings, more homes for sale

Two lines in that October report can both be true. More homes were already on the market than a year ago: 35,620 active listings, up 4.9%. Fewer homes were newly listed: 8,340, down 12.2%, a steeper drop than the national 7.5%. Source

If you list now, buyers can already tour a larger set of homes than they could a year ago, and October did not add as many brand-new listings to that set. A new listing is still one house inside that pool. It has to be priced and shown against the homes a buyer can walk through today. The report does not say a new listing gets a holiday premium, and I am not adding one.

The same report puts the median Houston listing at 57 days on the market, up 0.9% from a year earlier and shorter than the national 63 days. It puts a price cut on 20.3% of listings, just under the national 20.5%. Source I do not read a price cut as a moral failure. I read it as the first price missing what buyers would pay. How I build that price is in how a listing price is set. If a house is already sitting, price, photos, and access belong in one conversation: why a listing is not selling.

The work of a listing in this market is the work on the selling page and on how we market homes: the price, the photos and remarks, and who is told the house is for sale. The October counts do not do that work for you.

Rates eased, and they are still high

Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for November 5, 2026 says the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.18%, down from 7.24% the week before. The release headline calls that the third consecutive weekly decline. A year earlier the 30-year averaged 6.22%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.57%, down from 6.60% the week before. A year earlier the 15-year averaged 5.50%. Source Source

The same release says the survey covers conventional, conforming, fully amortizing home purchase loans for borrowers who put 20% down and have excellent credit. It is not a rate quote for every buyer, and it is not a payment on your house. Source

A rate below last week is a real change. It is not a return to last November: 7.18% is still above 6.22%. On the same loan amount, that higher rate means a higher principal-and-interest payment than a year ago. I am not guessing where rates go between now and Thanksgiving. The survey does not say, and I will not fill that in.

When we price a house, the rate is context for what a buyer’s payment can carry. It is not a substitute for comparable sales. A pricing review starts from those sales. You can ask for one on the home valuation page.

What to have ready before Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2026 is Thursday, November 26. If you want the house on the market before that week, the useful work is the work that lets a buyer see the house clearly. I am not citing a study on holiday decorations, on how many people tour the week of Thanksgiving, or on whether listing before the holiday raises the price. I do not have one, and the October report and the Freddie Mac release do not supply one.

What I ask a seller to line up before we pick a date:

• A price from recent comparable sales. Not a round number, and not a guess about what the holiday will do. I walk through that in how a listing price is set, and I will put the comps in a pricing review.
• Photos of the house, not of a party. The prep I use is in prepare for photos and showings.
• A way for buyers to get in. If the household will be away and the house cannot be shown, say that before we choose a list date. Showings are part of how we market a home.
• Holiday décor kept light. Light enough that the rooms, the floors, and the daylight still show. That is a presentation choice I make with sellers. It is not a claim that decorations change the sale price.

None of that is a promise of a contract before Thanksgiving, or after it. The selling page is where we write down the plan for your address.

When waiting can make sense

Waiting is a reasonable choice when the house is not ready to be seen, when you cannot allow showings over the holiday, or when the price is still a guess. Putting a house on the market the week nobody can open the door, only so the listing date falls before Thanksgiving, does not help the buyer who wants to walk through.

Waiting is a weaker reason when the only motive is a story that the market stops for the holiday. I am not publishing that story. The October listing report and the November 5 rate release do not say it, and I do not have a Thanksgiving sales count to put in its place.

If the house is already listed and the feedback is quiet, the next step is a look at price, condition, and access, not a bet on the calendar. That conversation is the selling review.

Kingwood, Lake Houston, and nearby

The Realtor.com figures are for the Houston metro. They do not tell me what a street in Kingwood, along Lake Houston, in Atascocita, Humble, The Woodlands, West University, or Bellaire will bring. I price those from comparable sales in that area, not from the metro median of $350,000.

If the house is in Kingwood, start with that guide and with selling a home in Kingwood. Atascocita, Humble, and The Woodlands each have their own pages, and so do West University and Bellaire. Lake Houston is its own guide. The same October metro numbers sit behind all of them. The comps do not.

If you want a list date before November 26, call or text me. We will look at the comps, the photos, and whether the house can actually be shown that week.

This article uses Realtor.com’s Houston local market report published November 5, 2026 (October 2026 MLS activity) and Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey release for November 5, 2026. I checked those pages on November 7, 2026. Thanksgiving 2026 is Thursday, November 26. I am not citing a holiday sales study.

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