San Antonio Real Estate: Two Decades of Market Cycles Shape Today’s Balanced Landscape

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

19 Dec 2025

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San Antonio’s real estate market has moved through three distinct phases over the past 20 years, according to veteran agent Jerry Newman. His perspective offers valuable context for today’s market, where inventory levels have begun to normalize, and both buyers and sellers are reassessing their strategies.

The Buyer’s Market Era

When Jerry Newman of Brown Realty & Property Management entered the San Antonio real estate industry in 2002, buyers held a clear advantage. “When I first got into it, it was pretty much a buyer’s market,” Newman says. “There were a lot of foreclosures, and sellers were having a difficult time selling their properties.”

This buyer’s market lasted for much of the 2000s. “We had a lot of inventory that lasted probably a good seven to nine years,” Newman recalls. During this time, buyers could afford to be selective, and sellers often had to accept lower prices or make concessions to close deals. Agents focused on helping sellers move properties in a market saturated with listings.

The Seller’s Market Inversion

Roughly six to seven years ago, just before the pandemic, the market dynamic flipped. “It shifted to a seller’s market where inventory was rare, and prices started escalating,” Newman explains. “San Antonio wasn’t the only city that saw price increases.”

Competition for homes surged. “Hot markets are where you’ve got more than one buyer, in some cases as many as 10 or 15 trying to buy the same property,” Newman says. Multiple-offer situations became common, and bidding wars drove prices higher. Sellers gained negotiating leverage, sometimes choosing buyers based on terms beyond just price, such as speed of closing or waived contingencies. “Sometimes the highest bidder is not always the best choice,” Newman notes, reflecting on the complexity of offers during this period.

The Current Balanced Phase

As of 2024, Newman sees the market entering a more balanced phase. “Right now, I think going into 2026, the market is pretty much balanced,” he says. “It’s going to probably shift into a seller’s market.”

Current inventory levels are around six or seven months of supply, a significant increase from the low-inventory years of the pandemic. This gives buyers more options and increases their ability to negotiate. “When you’re working with a buyer, and the market is shifted to their favor, they can be a little bit more selective of what they want,” Newman says. “They have more properties to choose from.”

However, this also means agents spend more time with each buyer, helping them navigate a wider range of choices. “You actually end up spending more time with them,” Newman observes, noting that buyers now require more guidance, more property tours, and more detailed comparisons before making a decision.

Experience and Historical Perspective

Newman emphasizes that market cycles are not new, even if they feel unfamiliar to newer agents or younger buyers. “What some of them don’t know, because they’re young buyers, I mean, 15 or 20 years ago, the rates were higher than they are now,” he says. “That’s for us old timers. We know the market goes in and out. Rates go up and down.”

He argues that buyers with a long-term perspective are less deterred by current interest rates. “The serious buyers, they don’t let the rate stop them from reaching their dream and their goals,” he says. Newman suggests that today’s buyer reluctance may have more to do with a lack of historical context than with actual affordability.

Market Outlook for 2026

Looking ahead, Newman predicts that 2026 could bring a stronger buyer’s market if inventory continues to rise. “It really depends on how fast the new builders are building new homes versus the pre-owned homes,” he says. “Right now, the inventory is around six or seven months, so as the inventory increases, more buyers will probably be in the market. I think 2026 probably will see us getting into a stronger buyer’s market.”

San Antonio’s inventory has increased by 15 to 18 percent year-over-year, marking a significant change in buyer power. However, Newman does not expect a return to the extreme buyer’s market of the early 2000s. Instead, he sees the current phase as a normalization, where both parties have negotiating power and the market is less volatile than in recent years.

The Road Ahead

Whether the market remains balanced or tips toward buyers or sellers will depend on several factors: the pace of new construction, future interest rates, and the continued demand from out-of-state buyers seeking affordability. Newman’s two decades in San Antonio real estate suggest that cycles will persist, but their intensity and duration are hard to predict.

For both buyers and sellers, understanding this cyclical history is essential. As Newman’s experience shows, today’s market conditions are the product of long-term trends rather than isolated events, and flexibility will be key as the next phase unfolds.