Local communities in the Lake Houston area are bucking regional trends in housing affordability, according to the Houston Association of Realtors’ Q1 Housing and Rental Affordability Report released May 8.

What you need to know

Despite a slight uptick in home prices across Harris County and the Greater Houston area from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025, the Humble area experienced a drop in median home prices over that time of nearly 6%.

The Humble area's median home value of $250,000 in Q1 of this year was the fourth lowest among Harris County communities tracked in the report. It was $75,000 less than the county median of $325,000.Atascocita's home values in Q1 of both years mirrored Harris County, with both seeing just under a 1% increase in median home value.

However, the report showed Atascocita saw a decline in the minimum qualifying annual income needed to afford a median-priced home year-over-year of 0.78%. The county and the Houston metro as a whole each saw upticks in Q1 of this year.

Again, Humble saw a more significant year-over-year drop of nearly 7%.The takeaway

Overall, the percentage of Harris County households that met the minimum income to afford a home rose from Q1 2024 countywide, as well as locally in Atascocita and the Humble area.

In the Humble area, 46% of Harris County households could afford a median-priced home, a spike of 4 percentage points from Q1 2024. The 46% mark is the third highest of any Harris County community, behind only the Aldine and Alief areas.