Published October 19, 2026 in Market Update

Hitchcock is moving faster than Bayou Vista right now

By April Aberle, REALTOR® | RE/MAX Crossroads Realty

Real estate, Hitchcock/Bayou Vista

Rates crossed 7% again. Realtor.com reported that move as of September 30, 2026, the first time since January 2025. That matters here because buyers are already cautious, and a rate jump makes them more selective. In Bayou Vista, that selectivity is showing up in the numbers. In Hitchcock, buyers are still moving.

The gap between these two markets

These two ZIP codes are neighbors, but the buyer response is not the same. The Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 75 homes sold in Hitchcock in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is up 8.7% from the same months a year before. Bayou Vista had 23 sales over the same period, down 64.1% year over year. That is a wide gap.

Hitchcock: more sales, less time, tighter supply

In Hitchcock, the Real Estate Data Aggregator shows homes sold in a median of 54 days. That is 17 days shorter than the same period in 2025. Supply tightened too, down 1.7 months to 3.7 months total. Pending sales rose 8.3% year over year to 78 homes. Sellers here are getting 97.7% of their list price on average, and that number ticked up 0.1 points from last year. About 12% of homes sold above list price, up 4.7 points from a year ago.

Bayou Vista: higher price, but buyers are waiting

Bayou Vista tells a different story. The Real Estate Data Aggregator shows a median sale price of $356,000 there, up 23.3% from the same period in 2025. That price gain is real. But homes are sitting 129 days on the market, 52 days longer than last year. Supply is at 12 months. Pending sales dropped 53.6% year over year. Only 12.5% of homes went under contract within two weeks of listing, down 13.6 points from 2025. Buyers here are not in a hurry.

What rates above 7% mean for both

Realtor.com reported that mortgage rates surged above 7% as of September 30, 2026. That is the first time above that mark since January 2025. Nationally, Realtor.com also found that 20.8% of listings had a price cut in September, the highest share since October 2022. That is the backdrop your buyers are coming from.

Fannie Mae, as reported by CNBC on October 14, 2026, forecasts the 30-year fixed rate at 7.5% for all of 2027. CNBC also cited Zillow data showing pending home sales down 8.5% nationally in September, year over year. Buyers have more choices and more hesitation. That is already visible in Bayou Vista's numbers.

The combined picture

Across both ZIP codes together, the Real Estate Data Aggregator counted 98 homes sold in the three months ending August 31, 2026. That is down 26.3% from the same period in 2025. New listings fell 16.9% and pending sales dropped 22%. The overall market is quieter than it was. But the two halves of that story are very different from each other.

One more thing worth knowing: the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that U.S. house prices rose 2.6% from July 2025 to July 2026. Locally, Hitchcock's median was up just 0.5% and Bayou Vista's was up 23.3%. Those are two very different outcomes from the same period. Your ZIP code matters, and so does your block.