Houston Luxury Market Report — September 2026

by Mark Dalton

The one-line version: August closings kept Piney Point and Carlton Woods well above $2M, Hunters Creek and Tanglewood cleared it on very few sales, and River Oaks can’t be read cleanly from public data this month.

This issue covers August 2026 closings, the latest full month published as of September 22, 2026.

Before the numbers, the thing that makes this report different from every other market update you'll read: I tell you how much to trust each figure. Texas is a non-disclosure state — final sale prices aren't public record, so every number here is an MLS-fed or reported estimate, not confirmed data. Some months, in some neighborhoods, that estimate is solid. Other months it's thin. Instead of pretending it's all equally certain, I flag it. Here's the scale:

🟢 Solid — enough recent activity that the number is reliable.
🟡 Soft — real, but based on limited sales; treat as directional.
🔴 Thin — so few data points that I'd only use it as a rough gauge.

If a number matters to a decision you're making, that flag tells you how hard to lean on it.

River Oaks — $2M+

Median / typical sale price: No clean figure this month — confidence: 🔴. The public sources I could open all measure a wider "River Oaks area" that includes townhomes and condos, and they disagree: $2,092,740 (HoustonProperties, HAR MLS, River Oaks Area geo market, updated September 22, 2026) versus $1,242,840 (Movoto, August 2026). Neither is the deed-restricted neighborhood itself.
Homes sold this month: Sales in the wider River Oaks Area were up 25% in August (HoustonProperties). No count for River Oaks proper.
Active inventory: No reliable figure for River Oaks proper.
Days on market (typical): About 90 days across the wider River Oaks Area (HoustonProperties, September 2026).
What it means in plain terms: This is the neighborhood where public data is least useful, which is the point of this report. A median that mixes estates with townhomes tells you nothing about an estate. Any River Oaks price needs comps pulled from the neighborhood itself.

Piney Point Village — $2M+

Median / typical sale price: $4,950,000 (Movoto, August 2026) — confidence: 🟡. Five sales.
Homes sold this month: 5 in August 2026 (Movoto).
Active inventory: 4 active listings (Movoto, as of September 22, 2026).
Days on market (typical): 38 days, down from 103 a year earlier (Movoto).
What it means in plain terms: Homes that sold, sold quickly, and there isn't much on the market. Five sales is enough to say the tier held, not enough to price a specific house from.

Carlton Woods & Carlton Woods Creekside (within The Woodlands) — $2M+

Median / typical sale price: $3,625,000 for Carlton Woods (Movoto, August 2026) — confidence: 🟡. Movoto's page doesn't make clear whether its sales count covers Carlton Woods alone. I found no August median for Creekside.
Homes sold this month: 11 in August 2026, level with a year earlier (Movoto; see the note above on what that count covers).
Active inventory: 12 active listings in Carlton Woods and 15 in Carlton Woods Creekside (Movoto, as of September 22, 2026).
Days on market (typical): 60 days, down from 84 a year earlier (Movoto; the page labels this inconsistently, so treat it as a rough gauge).
What it means in plain terms: The two gated communities stay firmly in the $2M+ tier, with more homes for sale than in Piney Point. This is the $2M+ part of The Woodlands, not the whole town. The area-wide median sits around $594,750 (HoustonProperties, HAR MLS data, September 2026).

Also $2M+, on thinner data: Tanglewood & Hunters Creek Village

Both already trade in the $2M+ tier. What's different is how few homes sell here in a given month. One or two sales can swing the median by a million dollars, so read these numbers with the flag, not without it.

Tanglewood — typical sale price: $2,257,500 (HoustonProperties, HAR MLS, Tanglewood Area geo market, updated September 22, 2026) — confidence: 🟡. Up 5% on a year earlier, with homes averaging 142 days on market. August sales were up 233%, but the source doesn't give the count behind that.
Hunters Creek Village — typical sale price: $2,697,500 (Movoto, August 2026) — confidence: 🔴. Two sales, 8 days on market, 2 active listings.

The through-line this month

The top of the market kept closing in August, but on so few sales that one or two homes moved every median. Piney Point's $4.95M rests on five sales and Hunters Creek's $2.7M on two. River Oaks, the best-known address on this list, is the one the public numbers describe worst. If you're pricing a specific home, the comps behind it matter more than any headline here.

I publish this report so you can track and protect your largest single asset with the same precision you track an equity portfolio. A monthly read turns your home from a place you live into an asset you actively monitor.

This report tracks the market. A real decision about a real address needs a real conversation. Call or text me, or reach me through my contact page, and I'll give you a straight read on your specific home.

Licensed Texas real estate broker (TREC #614396-B) with eXp Realty LLC — you can confirm my license on the Texas Real Estate Commission license search. Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist (CLHMS). My full profile, including reviews, is on HAR.com.

The one thing to do next

The market's average doesn't set your price — your specific home does. If you're weighing a $2M+ move in any of these neighborhoods, send me the address and I'll tell you what it is likely worth this month — and which of those three flags the number earns.

Talk to Mark about a $2M+ home.

Published monthly. Figures are MLS-sourced or reported estimates for a Texas non-disclosure market — directional, not confirmed. Confidence flags reflect data volume, not opinion.

Sources for this issue, all opened September 22, 2026: HoustonProperties market pages (HAR MLS data) for the River Oaks Area, Tanglewood Area and The Woodlands; Movoto market-trends pages for Piney Point Village, Hunters Creek Village, Carlton Woods, Carlton Woods Creekside and River Oaks.