Over 70% of Texas homebuyers who used a real estate agent last year said they’d do so again in the future, according to the Texas Homebuyers and Sellers Report from Texas REALTORS®. Furthermore, 89% of buyers used an agent to purchase their home, with 85% saying they were very satisfied with their agent’s honesty and integrity.

The association surveyed Texans who bought or sold a home between July 2022 and June 2023 to determine the demographics, behaviors and attitudes of homebuyers and sellers in the Lone Star State — and how those factors have changed annually.

In the survey, Texas buyers reported what they most wanted out of their relationship with a real estate agent, with more than half of all buyers saying they simply wanted their agent to help them find the right home and 24% saying they needed help with price negotiation and terms. Overall, buyers ranked agent experience as the most important factor when choosing an agent, followed by honesty, prior relationships and reputation.

After the transaction, 60% of buyers said their Realtor helped them understand the homebuying process, while 57% said they pointed out previously unnoticed faults or features of the homes they viewed. Another 51% said their Realtor provided a better list of service providers.

“As Realtors, we have direct interactions with our clients and understand how much it means for them to buy or sell a home, invest in real estate, do a commercial transaction — whatever our real estate speciality may be,” Texas REALTORS® Chairman Jef Conn said in a press release. “It’s gratifying to see that the overwhelming majority of homebuyers and sellers have positive experiences and value the professionalism and service provided by their Realtors.”

Looking at demographics, first-time homebuyers made up 31% of all buyers in Texas last year, up 7% from 2022. With the increase in first-time homebuyers, the median age of Texas buyers decreased substantially to 49 last year. In 2022, the median buyer was 56 years old.

A majority of those homebuyers were married couples at 64%. Single females made up the next-highest proportion of buyers at 14%, followed by single males at 9% and unmarried couples at 8%. Nineteen percent of all buyers were active duty service members or veterans.

The typical homebuyer — 62% — searched for around two to 12 weeks, with a median search time of 10 weeks. Just under one third of buyers looked for more than 12 weeks, while a mere 7% found a home in one week or less. Furthermore, buyers walked through a median of seven homes before finding the right one.

Buyers ranked the quality of the neighborhood as the most important factor when choosing their home, followed by convenience to friends and family, convenience to jobs and overall affordability. That said, buyers were more likely to compromise on factors like price, home condition, lot size, home size and home style in order to find a home in the optimal location. However, 23% of buyers said they made no compromises at all.

For half of all buyers, that aforementioned optimal location was within 30 miles from their previous home, while around 27% moved 300 miles or more.

The vast majority of buyers, 73%, bought a previously owned home, while 27% bought a new home. A majority of buyers reported being unsure how long they would stay in the home they purchased, although a median of about a decade was expected. Around 23% of buyers said they planned to stay in their home for 20 years or more, while only 7% said they planned to stay for zero to four years.

Sixty percent of buyers said the most difficult part of the homebuying process was finding the right property, up 7% from 2022. That was followed by paperwork at 21%, saving for a downpayment at 18% and understanding the process at 16%.

When it comes to financing, 80% of Texas homebuyers took on a fixed-rate mortgage to pay for their purchase. Specifically, 64% took on conventional loans, while 19% took on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans and 13% took on Veterans Affairs (VA) loans. Eleven percent paid in cash, and 6% took on an adjustable-rate mortgage.

For sellers, 23% put their houses on the market in order to move closer to friends or family, followed by 14% who did so for job relocation. Other reasons for listing included changes in family situation, desire to upsize or wanting to live in a new neighborhood.

Just over 40% of Texas sellers had their home on the market for one week or less, while 11% had their home on the market for 13 weeks or more, with the rest falling somewhere in the middle. Half of sellers said they felt like they could wait for the right offer, while 36% said they needed to sell in a reasonable time frame and 14% needed to sell as quickly as possible.

More than half of all sellers did minor repairs or renovations to get their home ready for the market, while 9% did major renovations.

On the whole, sellers didn’t need to offer incentives to get their home to sell: More than 75% didn’t offer incentives to attract buyers, up 12% from 2022. For sellers who did offer incentives, the most common was a home warranty at 10%, followed by closing cost assistance at 8% and credit for repairs at 6%.

When it comes to sellers’ agents, sellers were most eager for a Realtor that could help them sell their home in a specific timeframe at 25%, followed by those who could market their home to potential buyers at 23%. Eighteen percent wanted an agent who could help them price their home competitively, while 14% wanted help finding buyers and 9% wanted advice on fixing up their home to earn a higher profit.

Eighty percent of sellers reported that their agent performed a broad range of services, while 12% said their agent did a limited range of services. Only 8% reported that their agent did nothing more than list the home to an MLS.

Over 90% of sellers used an agent to sell their home, while 3% sold their home to a homebuying company. Sixty-eight percent said they’d definitely use a seller’s agent again, down 4% from 2022.