August Price Cuts Finally Matched Last Year—East Texas Sellers Should Price to Today’s Buyers

The new signal is not another rate reprint. It is seller behavior.

Realtor.com’s August 2026 housing trends report (published September 2) shows the national share of listings with a price cut at 20.4%—matching August 2025 for the first time this year after trailing last year’s pace all spring. Pending sales (listings under contract) turned 0.2% negative year over year, snapping an eight-month streak of growth. New contract signings fell 3.4% year over year.

That is a demand story, not a “rates are 6-something” story. Median list prices were $424,500, down 1.3% year over year (a tenth straight monthly decline, but roughly half of July’s drop). Active listings rose to about 1.14 million, up 3.6% year over year. Median time on market was 60 days, unchanged from a year earlier.

The South—the region that includes East Texas—is already more cut-prone than the coasts. In August, 21.4% of Southern listings had a price reduction. Southern median list price was $380,000, down 2.6% year over year. Southern median time on market was 66 days.

What that means in Lufkin, Livingston, Nacogdoches, Huntsville, and Conroe

If more sellers nationwide are cutting—and Southern listings already sit at that higher cut rate—an East Texas ask that was “fine in June” can sit. Buyers who are still making offers are payment-sensitive. They compare your house to the last price cut two streets over, not to last spring’s peak ask.

OnTheMarketTexas helps East Texas homeowners get a free, no-obligation look at what a home could sell for based on local activity. A local specialist reviews the request. That is an estimate conversation, not an appraisal and not a promise you will list.

Price to closed comps and current competition, not to the number you needed last year.

If you must test a high ask, give it a short clock. A stale listing becomes the next price-cut statistic.

Do not wait solely for a friendlier mortgage headline. August’s pending-sales turn happened while rates were already elevated. Sitting through another month of extra days on market can cost more than the rate move you hoped for.

Takeaway: August was the first month this year that national price-cut rates caught 2025, and pending sales went negative. East Texas sellers should set the list to today’s buyers—then check a local estimate before the house becomes another reduction.

Talk through your East Texas plans