Real estate
BY NICHAELA SHAHEEN
Home Edition
2026
Readers, welcome to your annual CI Home Edition! This guide features news ranging from real estate trends to an overview of home insurance costs. All of the stories were written by our team of local journalists, and all of the advertisements are from nearby businesses that support our mission to provide free, useful news—show them your gratitude by supporting local businesses. Over the last several years, we’ve seen ebbs and ows within the real estate industry, making it hard to predict what the future holds. But, what we do know is that Harris and Montgomery counties are continuing to grow, and there doesn’t seem to be any signs of that growth slowing down. In this year’s Home Edition, read on to learn about year-over-year changes in the real estate market across ve Tomball- and Magnolia-area ZIP codes when it comes to home sales, home prices and other metrics. We also take a look at increases in home insurance costs and hear from René Galvan, the new CEO and president of the Houston Association of Realtors. We hope our annual Home Edition is useful and informative, no matter if you’re new to the area or are a lifelong resident.
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County keeps 40-foot lot minimum
Diving in deeper
Several commissioners signaled they were not ready to support the wider minimum. County Judge Mark Keough said Montgomery County’s reputation for “stable government” means developers need to know the county will not “pull the rug out from underneath them and change midstream.” Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley said earlier updates to the rules were meant to “encourage good development, good developers,” and said that “lot size needs to stay where it’s at.” Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray said he supports a ordable housing and rst-time homebuyers, but he argued the discussion also has to include county infrastructure demands. The motion to leave the current lot width in place passed 3-1, with Gray voting against.
Montgomery County Commissioners Court voted April 9 to leave the county’s 40-foot minimum suburban lot width in place after hearing feedback during a public hearing on proposed development regulation changes. The court removed the proposed 50-foot minimum lot width requirement from the agenda item and approved the rest of the update, which county engineering sta had described as a set of clerical corrections and clari cations. Speakers who addressed the court largely argued the 50-foot change would raise housing costs and further squeeze rst-time buyers. Cody Miller, government a airs director with the Greater Houston Builders Association, said the proposed increase would make housing “less attainable” by raising land costs and reducing how many homes can be built. Debbie Green, division president at D.R. Horton, said smaller lot homes matter for “the
Montgomery County minimum suburban lot width
40-foot
50-foot
Concerns raised A 10-foot increase in lot width could potentially: add $20,000 to lot costs
add $26,000 - $27,000 to the nal price
price out rst-time buyers and retirees
SOURCES: MONTGOMERY COUNTY; MARK WELCH, DAVID WEEKLEY HOMES COMMUNITY IMPACT
rst responders, the people that work at your grocery stores, everybody that serves us in this county.”
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TOMBALL MAGNOLIA EDITION
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