Houston Market Updates • Cypress & Katy • November 2025

Cypress & Katy: Reading Q4’s Suburban Signal (And How TMs Keep Contracts From Slipping)

In the northwest and west corridors of Houston, the fall market doesn’t really “cool”—it concentrates. Cypress and Katy keep drawing families for schools, master-planned amenities, and price-per-square-foot that’s still compelling beside the Loop. But Q4 2025 comes with a catch: more moving parts per file. Appraisals are slower to book, HOA packets are taking longer, lenders need more back-up, and the option clock is less forgiving.

The macro backdrop is clear enough. HAR’s fall releases show a 5.2 months supply of single-family homes across Greater Houston, up from 4.4 months a year earlier; days on market have stretched from the low-50s to the mid-to-high 50s; and the median price has leveled near $330,000—a gentle reset rather than a slide. That’s a textbook “balancing” market: more choice, longer timelines, and more opportunities for contracts to wobble if they aren’t managed with precision.

Zoom in on cancellations and the story sharpens. Redfin’s national data, reported by Inman, shows ~15–16% of contracts walking away late summer into early fall—the highest share since 2017—with Texas among the states posting elevated fall-throughs as buyers balk at inspections, financing, or timing. If you felt more “almosts” this quarter, you were reading the market right.

Why Cypress & Katy feel different in Q4

These suburbs outperform because the fundamentals are stable: family-driven demand, steady new-build pipelines, and strong school clusters along the Grand Parkway. Coverage of top-selling areas underscores the suburban tilt—Cypress South and multiple Katy zones have been consistent volume leaders thanks to Bridgeland, Towne Lake, Elyson, Sunterra and the rest of the MPC constellation. That base doesn’t vanish in Q4; it just gets choosier.

What changes isn’t demand; it’s friction. Appraisal calendars stretch without a pre-built valuation packet. HOA and builder docs add layers that need a single owner. And communication asymmetry—different parties getting different truths—creates renegotiations that didn’t need to happen.

Read the signs, reset the sequence

In a 5.2-months supply environment, you don’t beat the market with speed; you win with clarity. Publish the timeline. Front-load valuation with a one-pager (three relevant comps, upgrade list, repair context). Treat HOA and builder docs as a clock, not a checklist—log ETAs the day you request them. And normalize a single Friday status note sent to clients, title, lender, and co-op with the same facts in the same order.

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How Transaction Management stops fall-throughs here

By 72 hours after execution, a strong TM has option timelines acknowledged in writing, appraisal access booked, title open, HOA/condo docs requested with a logged ETA, and the week-one cadence set. When underwriting stalls, the TM escalates to underwriting with timestamps and re-issues the buyer doc checklist. During inspection week, the TM circulates a neutral repair scope recap so the addendum is drafted off agreed facts. Sequencing—not heroics—keeps files calm.

Cypress in one page

A move-up buyer in Bridgeland executed on a mid-500s listing with a seven-day option, then hit the classic Q4 squeeze: inspector backlog, lender VOE loop, and HOA resale lag. The TM reset the order of work—repair recap out the day after inspection, buyer doc checklist re-issued with due dates highlighted, appraisal access pre-booked for the next business day, and a written HOA ETA logged and shared. The result was math, not magic: credit agreed without drama, appraisal cleared on day ten, on-time close.

Katy’s read for the weeks ahead

Katy’s mix of resale and new-build will keep testing sequencing through year-end. Expect valuations to ask harder questions at the \$600K–\$800K bands and HOA timing to matter more in the mid-\$300s. The way through is the same: one spine, one set of facts, one person accountable for the order of operations.

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Sources: HAR Market Updates (Sept–Oct 2025): inventory 5.2 months; DOM mid-50s; median price ≈ \$330K. Inman/Redfin on cancellations ~15–16% late summer/early fall 2025. Coverage of Cypress/Katy MPCs as suburban sales leaders.