The house three doors down from you just sold for 5.8% less than yours appraised for last year. The builder sales office in the next subdivision over is offering a rate buydown that drops the monthly payment $400 below what you can offer on resale. Your neighbor listed in March and still hasn't gone pending. That's the North Texas market right now, and it's not happening everywhere the same way.

I'm Connor Hornsby. I moved my family here from Northern California, and I've been walking buyers through McKinney, Melissa, Celina, Anna, Van Alstyne, Prosper, Frisco, and the rest of the DFW corridor since then. The suburbs everyone knows first, Frisco, McKinney, Prosper, are the same ones where prices are dropping the fastest. Meanwhile, new home sales in Celina jumped 61% in one year while the median price fell 22% to $520,000. More people buying, lower prices, same town, same month.

This is not a crash. This is a correction in the places that built the most during the boom, and it's creating the best negotiating position buyers have had in years. Homes in Melissa are taking 88 days to sell. Windsong Ranch in Prosper went from 75 days to 118 days. Van Alstyne is down 16% year over year. The heat in this market isn't showing up as higher prices. It's showing up as sales velocity and where people are actually moving.

I'm going to walk you through the 5 suburbs where activity is dropping off, the 3 places picking up the most traffic, and how to use this market instead of getting left behind. If you were priced out in 2024, the math has changed. If you're selling, the biggest mistake being made right now is pricing off last year's comps. Let's get into it.

Table of Contents

• Frisco: The Suburb Everyone Knows First
• McKinney: More Inventory Than Buyers
• Prosper: The High-End Corridor Where Supply Moves Fast
• Windsong Ranch: Four Months on Market Instead of Two
• Melissa: When Builders Respond Too Quickly
• Van Alstyne: The Coldest One on the List
• Farmersville and Blue Ridge: Land, No HOA, Different Buyer
• Anna: Holding Up Better Than Anywhere Else
• Celina: The Single Best Opportunity in the Corridor
• Light Farms: Master-Planned Growth in the Fastest-Growing City
• Which Area is Right for You: Price Point, Commute, and Tax Rate
• Conclusion

Frisco: The Suburb Everyone Knows First

Frisco is usually the first word out of somebody's mouth when they call me about moving to North Texas. It's the one everyone knows, the PGA headquarters, huge master-planned neighborhoods, easy drive down the Dallas North Tollway. So it surprises people when I tell them Frisco is the first suburb on my list of places where activity is cooling.

The average Frisco home value is $673,000, down 2.7% over the past year. That doesn't sound like much, but this is Frisco. This is the suburb that was supposed to be completely untouchable. What's causing it? Frisco is close to being completely built out. There's very little cheap land left, so new construction moved north, and the price gap got hard to ignore.

A buyer sits down with me and compares a Frisco resale against a brand new build 15 minutes up the road. That Frisco home has to work a lot harder to win. I'm not telling you to skip Frisco. Homes there still go pending in about 8 days, so demand hasn't disappeared. What's changed is the price people are willing to pay to be there.

The Best Negotiating Position in Years

If Frisco has always been your target, this is the best negotiating position buyers have had there in a few years. Sellers can't price their home based on what their neighbor got in 2024. The market has moved, and the comps reflect that. You're not competing with last year's sale. You're competing with the builder sales office 10 minutes north offering a lower rate, a new home, and a closing date the buyer can pick.

Frisco is the mild one on this list. It gets much steeper from here.

McKinney: More Inventory Than Buyers

I live and work in McKinney, and it's the number one suburb on my own list of favorites in North Texas. The typical McKinney home value is $515,000, down 3.9% over the past year. McKinney has a lot going for it: the historic downtown square, restaurants, live music, the old courthouse, Adriatica over on the west side, trails, parks, and a huge amount of brand new construction east of Highway 75.

That east side construction is a big part of this story. Builders have been putting up homes at a serious pace, and every one of those competes with the homeowner trying to sell. That new build community on the east side of McKinney ranks number 5 in all of Texas on the most desired new build communities to live in right now. A buyer who three years ago had two or three options now has 15. That's what a 3.9% drop actually looks like on the ground.

Nothing Wrong with the Town, Just More Inventory

A price dip doesn't mean something is wrong with the town. Nothing is wrong with McKinney. It's the same city it was two years ago. There's just much more inventory than there are buyers lining up for it. I've shown homes in this corridor every day for the past two years, so I'll tell you what I tell my own clients: if you were priced out of McKinney in 2024, look again. The math has changed.

McKinney is still one of the strongest markets in the corridor. The difference is that buyers now have time to think, time to negotiate, and time to compare what a builder can offer versus what a resale seller can match.

Prosper: The High-End Corridor Where Supply Moves Fast

Prosper is the one that shocks people the most. This high-end corridor, big lots, big houses, resort-style amenity centers, has always been the place people relocate to specifically for the lifestyle. The typical Prosper home value is $789,000, down 5.8% over the past year. But that townwide number doesn't tell the real story.

At this price point, the buyer pool is much smaller. There are far fewer people shopping at $789,000 than $390,000. When supply moves up to the top, prices move faster. Builders are still delivering brand new construction with incentives attached, and if you're selling in Prosper right now, you're competing with the builder sales office that can do things you physically can't.

Most Room to Negotiate

If you're buying in Prosper right now, you have the most room to negotiate. I'm not just talking about price. I'm talking about closing costs, rate buydowns where the builder pays to lower your interest rate, and flexibility on closing dates. What actually moves your monthly payment is the interest rate. If a builder buys your rate down a point and a half, that does far more for your budget than knocking $12,000 off the sticker. Builders are doing that right now, and they're more willing to give you incentives heading into the back half of the year.

If you're selling, you need to price like you know that competition exists. Price to last year's comps and you're not slightly high, you're above the entire market.

Windsong Ranch: Four Months on Market Instead of Two

Windsong Ranch is probably the best-known community in all of Prosper, the one with the massive crystal lagoon. Prices there in March of 2026 were down 10.4% from a year before. The median price is around $790,000, and homes were taking 118 days to sell compared to 75 days the year prior.

A seller in Windsong Ranch right now is sitting for roughly four months instead of two and a half. That's three or four extra mortgage payments they weren't planning on making. Why is this happening? Builders are still delivering brand new construction with incentives, and at this price point, the buyer pool is much smaller. When supply moves at the top, it moves faster than anywhere else.

What This Means for Buyers and Sellers

If you're buying in Windsong Ranch, you have time and leverage. Homes have been sitting, and the seller's mindset is different than it was in 2022. If you're selling, the first two weeks decide everything. Get the home genuinely ready before it hits the market, price it like you know the builder competition exists, and don't wait for the market to come back to you. It won't.

Windsong Ranch is still a strong community with strong demand. The difference is that buyers now have options, and sellers have to compete for attention.

Melissa: When Builders Respond Too Quickly

Melissa was supposed to be the answer. It sits between McKinney and Anna off Highway 75, small town feel, quieter vibes, local schools, and an area where you can grow with it. For a long time, it was the town people moved to when Prosper and Frisco got too expensive. So why is it on this list?

The average Melissa home value is $435,000, down 6.3% over the past year. Here's the number that really tells you what's going on: homes there are going pending in 88 days. Compare that to Frisco at 8 days. Same corridor, same county, wildly different pace.

What Happened

Melissa got discovered, and then builders responded. A lot of new rooftops went up in a very short period of time. When a town that size adds that much inventory at once, the buyers get spread thin. There are just more homes available than there are people ready to buy this month.

That's not a knock on Melissa. I used to live in Melissa. It's a great area with local schools. If you still want a newer home without the Prosper or Frisco price tag, and you're fine with being a little farther away from the tollway, it's still a buy in my book.

The Practical Piece for Sellers

If you're a Melissa homeowner listing this year, you need to be honest with yourself. I sold my home in Melissa, and I had to be very conservative with my numbers and made sure the value was as good or better than what the builder was offering. If you're buying, 88 days on the market means the seller who listed in the spring is a very different negotiator by August.

Melissa is still a strong town. The difference is that buyers now have 15 options instead of three, and sellers have to price like they know that.

Van Alstyne: The Coldest One on the List

Van Alstyne is the coldest one on the list, and it's not even close. Van Alstyne sits up Highway 75 just past Anna, heading toward Sherman. Redfin has the median sales price at $361,000, down 16% year over year. That's the steepest drop in this entire video.

What's really going on? Van Alstyne got a huge amount of attention during the boom. It was cheap land at the end of a growing highway corridor. Builders bought up tracts and started delivering. But it's genuinely still a small town, and the drive really matters. If you're commuting into Plano, Richardson, or Dallas, Van Alstyne is a very different daily reality than McKinney. That drive is easy at 7 AM on a Saturday. It's not fine every weekday for 10 years.

Who Van Alstyne Works For

A chunk of people who bought up there for the price are now seeing the trade-offs, and the buyers coming in behind them are choosing to stop a few exits earlier. But let's make one thing clear: a 16% drop is not a reason to write off the town. If you actually want small town Texas and you're not commuting five days a week, Van Alstyne is about the best buying situation in North Texas right now.

Van Alstyne was one of the first towns on my list when I was relocating to North Texas. I understand the appeal. The question is whether the trade-offs work for your life, not just your budget.

Farmersville and Blue Ridge: Land, No HOA, Different Buyer

Farmersville and Blue Ridge sit east of McKinney out past Highway 380, and they are in a completely different area than anything else in this video. Out there, you're not buying a lot. You're buying land, an acre and sometimes much more. The best part? No HOA, no monthly dues, and nobody telling you what paint color you can paint your front door or where your boat can sit.

The whole appeal is room for a shop out back, room for the kids to actually run around, and space for things you can't do on a quarter-acre lot in Frisco. One of my clients wanted a space for a batting cage. Go for it. There's nowhere in Frisco you're going to do that.

The Trade-Off

You are going to be driving. It's a small-town vibe. Groceries are a trip, not a five-minute errand. If you commute into Plano or North Dallas, test that drive at rush hour before you fall in love with the property. But the people buying out here mostly aren't commuters anymore. They're remote workers, people who work in the trades, folks who got a taste of the big lot and will never turn back.

That's a different buyer than the Frisco buyer, and that demand doesn't move with DFW prices month to month. If land and no HOA is what you're actually looking for, this stretch is where I'd start.

Anna: Holding Up Better Than Anywhere Else

Anna is the town holding up better than anywhere else I cover. Anna sits on Highway 75 between Melissa and Van Alstyne, still in Collin County, and it's been the entry point for brand new construction in this corridor for years. Anna homes are selling at about 55 days, down from 82 days a year earlier. The median sales price is $349,000, down just 1.9% year over year.

Think about what that means next to everything else in this video. Melissa is at 88 days. Van Alstyne is at 116 days. Anna went the opposite direction. Homes there started selling faster, and the prices barely moved.

Why Anna is Different

Price point, plain and simple. Anna is where you can still buy a brand new home in Collin County without stretching. When you're shopping at $350,000 instead of $790,000, there are a whole lot more people standing in line next to you, and that's what keeps the market moving.

You also get easy access to the Highway 75 corridor, so your drive south into McKinney, Allen, Plano, and Dallas is a straight shot instead of back roads. I've built most of my channel out of finding new construction homes that people can actually afford, and Anna is where that hunt tends to end for a lot of my buyers right now.

What This Means for Buyers

Anna is within 20 minutes of Celina, Melissa, and McKinney. The same budget buys a very different house in each one. If you're shopping at this price point, don't just look at one town. Compare what you get in Anna versus what you get in Melissa or Celina, and run the tax rate on all of them before you decide.

Celina: The Single Best Opportunity in the Corridor

Celina is on a completely different level from everything else in this video. New home sales in Celina jumped 61% from April 2025 to April 2026. Overall home sales were up 39%. That's straight from The Real Deal, published in June of 2026. In that same report, Celina is named the fastest growing city by population in the entire United States, not just Texas, the entire country.

But the price went the other way. The median price of those new home sales fell 22%, down to $520,000. The MetroTex Association of Realtors chair pointed straight at the reason: Celina has built an extraordinary amount of new housing over the last several years.

More People, Lower Prices

More people are moving to Celina than anywhere else in America right now, and the price of new homes there just dropped 22%. That is a genuinely weird, unusual combination, and it's the single best opportunity in this corridor right now.

Celina is a real town with an actual square, not a highway exit with rooftops. You've got big master-planned communities with their own pools and trails, and a downtown that people actually drive to on a Friday night. On the resale side, Redfin shows homes average around 92 days over the three months ending May of 2026. The median price is right around $496,000, down 11.3%.

You Have Time and Leverage

You have time to think, and you have leverage. When a home has been sitting for that long, the seller's mindset is different than it was in 2022. The mistake I see people make is trying to use that leverage on just price. That's usually the wrong lever. What actually moves your monthly payment is the interest rate. If a builder buys your rate down a point and a half, that does far more for your budget than knocking $12,000 off the sticker. Builders are doing that right now.

Light Farms: Master-Planned Growth in the Fastest-Growing City

Light Farms is one of the big master-planned communities in Celina, with pools, trails, and the kind of amenity centers people relocate for. It's part of the same story driving Celina's growth: extraordinary amounts of new housing, strong sales velocity, and prices that dropped while demand climbed.

Light Farms is where you see the Celina story play out on the ground. New homes, strong builder activity, and a buyer pool that keeps growing even as prices soften. If you're looking at Celina, Light Farms is one of the communities worth walking.

Which Area is Right for You: Price Point, Commute, and Tax Rate

Here's the simple version. For the first time in years, you have time and leverage. Homes in Melissa are taking 88 days. Van Alstyne is at 116 days. Windsong Ranch in Prosper went from 75 days to 118 days. When a home has been sitting for that long, the seller's mindset is different.

The mistake I see people make is trying to use that leverage on just price. What actually moves your monthly payment is the interest rate. If a builder buys your rate down a point and a half, that does far more for your budget than a price cut. Builders are doing that right now, and they're more willing to give you incentives heading into the back half of the year.

Check the Tax Rate Before You Fall in Love

Some of these newer communities sit inside a MUD or PID district that changes your payment by a couple hundred dollars a month on the same price home. It's not a bad thing. It just has to be in your math from day one, not discovered at the closing table. Most often, you are not going to be told this upfront, especially if you try to go in without representation.

Don't Just Shop One Town

Anna, Celina, Melissa, and McKinney are all within 20 minutes of each other. The same budget buys a very different house in each one. Here's how to think about it:

• Choose Anna if you want a brand new home in Collin County without stretching, easy Highway 75 access, and a price point where more buyers keep the market moving.
• Choose Celina if you want a real town with a square, master-planned communities, and the single best combination of sales velocity and price drop in the corridor.
• Choose Melissa if you want a small town feel, local schools, and a newer home without the Prosper or Frisco price tag, and you're fine being a little farther from the tollway.
• Choose McKinney if you want the historic downtown square, trails, parks, Adriatica, and access to the huge amount of new construction east of Highway 75.
• Choose Prosper if you want big lots, big houses, resort-style amenity centers, and you're shopping at the high end where you have the most room to negotiate.
• Choose Farmersville or Blue Ridge if you want land, no HOA, room for a shop, and you're not commuting five days a week.
• Choose Van Alstyne if you want small town Texas, the best buying situation in North Texas, and you're not commuting into Plano or Dallas every day.

Conclusion

The suburb you pick and the month you buy in are worth more to your wallet than anything else in the deal right now. Get that wrong and it costs you in a very specific way. Buy in the wrong town at last year's price and you're sitting on a house worth 6% less before you've even unpacked. Sell without adjusting and you're making three or four extra mortgage payments while your listing gets stale. Miss a MUD or PID tax rate and you're paying a couple hundred dollars a month you didn't even budget for every month for as long as you own that property.

If you're thinking about moving to North Texas or selling here, call or text me at 214-326-2323. I'll run the actual monthly payment math with you on the call and tell you which of these towns fits your budget and which one to skip. I love North Texas, and I look forward to seeing you here.