Houston

The market in brief

Houston comes later for us, after Los Angeles and Dallas, with Austin. Unlike most cities, its luxury residential towers stand mostly outside downtown, in Uptown near the Galleria, beside River Oaks and in the Museum District. Its buyers include energy and medical executives, families leaving a large house in Memorial or River Oaks for a tower, and buyers from abroad who work in the city’s energy industry.

Area

Uptown and the Galleria, River Oaks, the Museum District and Downtown

Status

Later, after Los Angeles and Dallas

Before any sale

No state review of the offering; each buyer receives a condominium information statement

Deposits

Held in escrow in Texas until closing, a buyer’s default or a refund

Transfer tax

None in Texas

We will add market figures here when we open Houston, drawn from the same kinds of sources as our other market pages. Our Dallas page covers the rules that apply across Texas.

Where new buildings rise

Uptown and the Galleria

Post Oak Boulevard and the streets around the Galleria, where many of the city’s newest luxury residential towers stand.

River Oaks

The city’s best-known residential neighborhood of large houses and gardens, with a few residential towers at its edges.

The Museum District

Museums, Hermann Park and Rice University close by, with residential towers near the Texas Medical Center.

Downtown

The office towers of the city’s center, with a growing number of residences near Discovery Green and Buffalo Bayou.

How a purchase works here

Texas does not review a condominium offering before it is sold. Instead the developer must give each buyer a condominium information statement, and under section 82.156 of the Texas Property Code (opens in a new tab) a buyer who signs before receiving it has five days after receiving it to cancel, with every payment refunded. The developer cannot require the buyer to close until the statement has been delivered.

Under section 82.158 (opens in a new tab), deposits paid to the developer are held in escrow in Texas, by a title company, an attorney, a broker or an insured institution, until closing, a buyer’s default or a refund.

Closing costs are lower than in our other markets: Texas has no transfer tax and no state income tax. Property taxes are set locally and carry more of the cost of owning, so a buyer who makes the home a primary residence should apply for the homestead exemption, which since voters approved it in November 2025 takes $140,000 off the value for school taxes.

Texas has no statute that sets warranty periods for a new home, so the builder’s written warranty and the contract carry the weight. Read both before signing.

What a developer works with here

• No state filing before the first contract. The launch date is set by the documents, the developer and the lender, not by a state review.
• Deposits that stay in escrow. Deposits wait in escrow until closing, so construction is funded by equity and debt, as in New York, and the lender’s pre-sale requirement is the first milestone.
• The statement before the signature. Delivering the information statement before the contract is signed keeps a late cancellation window from opening on a sale already made.
• A city without zoning. Houston has no zoning ordinance, so land use is shaped by recorded deed restrictions and the city’s development rules. Read a site’s deed restrictions early, along with its neighbors’.
• Water and storms. Buyers here ask about flooding first. Know a site’s flood history and how the building is designed for storms, and say so plainly in the offering.
• Buyers from New York. Marketing a Texas building to New York residents brings New York’s filing rules with it, as our New York page explains.

Costs and rules at a glance

Transfer tax

None

State income tax

None

Property tax

Set each year by the county, the city and the school district

Homestead

$140,000 off the value of a primary home for school taxes

Cancellation

Five days after receiving the information statement, if it arrives after signing

Warranty

Set by the builder’s written warranty and the contract, not by statute

A launch, step by step

1. Documents. The declaration, the information statement and the escrow agreement are prepared, and prices and lines are set against the buildings buyers compare.
2. Launch. Purchase contracts are signed, each buyer receiving the information statement first.
3. Construction. Deposits stay in escrow. Weekly reporting shows whether pace meets the lender’s threshold.
4. Closings. Title passes to the buyer, with no transfer tax due.

What we will do here

When we open Houston, we will work as we do in our other markets: advice before launch on pricing, unit mix, plans and amenities, the buyer profile and the launch strategy, then a sales report every Monday against the plan. If you are planning a building in Uptown, near River Oaks or in the Museum District, we are glad to talk it through now. 

Sources

1. Texas Property Code, section 82.156 (opens in a new tab) and section 82.158 (opens in a new tab).
2. The 2025 homestead amendment, as reported by FOX 4 Dallas–Fort Worth (opens in a new tab).
3. The City of Houston on deed restrictions and zoning (opens in a new tab).

General information only, not legal, tax or investment advice. Texas law and local tax rates change, and every project is different. Review any purchase or project with a Texas real estate attorney.