Jun 3, 2025
Located just an hour from Houston, coastal getaway Galveston Island is going through a housing slump.
Once a dream destination for vacation homes and investment properties, the island city has become a buyer’s market.
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“We’ve never seen this amount of inventory sitting for this amount of time,” Galveston Realtor Shelby Forbert told KHOU News. “Homes are sitting six, seven, eight, nine months on the market.”
During the pandemic-era housing rush, buyers were snapping up seaside properties amid record-low interest rates.
But now, prices are falling, listings are piling up, and owners are getting squeezed by rising costs.
A perfect storm
Forbert showed off one of her listings in Jamaica Beach, a fully renovated four-bedroom home that includes brand-new furnishings. It's been on the market for six months, and the price has taken a nosedive.
“I just brought this home down. It was listed at $625,000, and now it’s at $499,000. So, we’re just waiting it out,” she said.
The median sold price in April 2025 for Galveston single family homes was $390,750, down from $449,250 last year and $539,750 in April 2023.
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Citing the Houston Association of Realtors, KHOU said the slowdown comes from a perfect storm of plunging vacation rental profits, steep maintenance costs, and soaring property taxes. For investment owners, the crowded short-term rental market is cutting into profits. During the pandemic, buyers rushed to snag beach homes, turning them into lucrative Airbnb rentals. But that short-term rental gold rush has fizzled. Galveston is now flush with vacation homes, meaning oversaturation and competition.
“Airbnb landlords are suffering because there are so many homes to choose from, and they’re being put up for Airbnb all at once,” Forbert said. “Before, there were very few, and now it’s every other home probably.”
Then there’s the skyrocketing insurance.
Galveston, which is extremely vulnerable to hurricanes, has the highest home insurance rates in Texas, averaging nearly $12,000 a year, according to LendingTree.
The market has changed, and what used to be a seller’s dream is now a waiting game. “At the end of the day, the market will tell you what the house is worth,” Forbert said. “All you can do is keep reducing the price until it moves, and that’s what the value is.”
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High insurance and weather disasters
Texas now ranks as one of the most expensive states in the country for homeowners insurance, with average annual cost at $5,180, nearly double the national average of $2,801, according to LendingTree.
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And in communities like Galveston, that number can climb much higher.
What’s behind the price surge?
In Texas, extreme weather is taking a serious toll. The state leads in the country for the most number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters since 1980, according to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and is the second-leading state after Florida in total costs ($436 billion). That kind of risk has insurers on edge, and it’s driving premiums higher.
To add to that, rebuilding a home isn’t cheap these days since construction costs have surged.
For the right buyer, that beachside dream could be a deal, as long as they budget for the full cost of keeping it above water. For those willing to weather the storm, the Gulf breeze and beachside views may come with a discount. But for sellers? The tide has turned.
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Jessica is a freelance writer with a professional background in economic development and small business consulting. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Sociology and is completing her Publishing Certificate.
