When you think of high-end luxury markets, you’re probably thinking of places on the East and West coasts or at famous resorts.
But there’s a host of affordable luxury havens that have emerged where a budget below $1 million can still secure a high-end estate, according to Realtor.com
According to Realtor.com, the national luxury threshold that represents the top 10% of the housing market, reached $1.2 million in February. That’s up 1% from the month before but down more than 3% compared to last year, according to the latest Realtor.com luxury report.
Mostly in the Sun Belt, there are a handful of inventory-rich markets where the entry point for luxury housing is between 12% and 37% below the national benchmark.
San Antonio, Texas, leads the way among those elite “refuge markets” with a budget-friendly luxury threshold of just $750,510 in February, down roughly 4% year over year, Realtor.com noted.
Lower Than National Median
The typical “starter” luxury property in San Antonio costs 2.3 times more than the metro median of $319,990, a figure that is well lower than the national luxury-to-median multiple of 2.9.
According to Realtor.com, that pricing gap confirms that San Antonio is one of the most attainable luxury markets in the U.S. for 2026.
Travis Amaro, a real estate Associate at Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty in San Antonio, said that metro area remains undervalued when measured against other major regional and national metros, offering buyers a sizable discount compared to pricier markets such as Dallas and Austin.
“We have houses here that we sell for $2 million to $3 million, but if you picked that house up and put it in a comparable location in Dallas, it would be a $9 million house,” Amaro told Realtor.com.
At the ultrahigh end, an estate in one of San Antonio’s coveted “old money” enclaves selling for $7 million would reap $20 million in Houston or Austin, he said.
“San Antonio’s been discovered, but we still haven’t reached the levels of the other main major cities, and so it’s kind of a secret to most of the country,” Amaro said. “We have the same caliber of houses that you’re going to see in Houston or Dallas. We just don’t have as many of them.”
Lack of Corporate Headquarters
Amaro said that what keeps prices relatively affordable in San Antonio is a lack of high-level corporate headquarters after the telecommunication giant AT&T moved its business operations to Dallas in 2008.
Without an influx of senior executives moving in with massive relocation budgets, the price ceiling remains firmly tethered to local wages, Amaro said.
“We just don’t have the corporate level of money spent in San Antonio,” he said.
San Antonio does offer a great highway system allowing residents to get almost anywhere in the city within 30 minutes, and a small-town feel offering a sense of community, Realtor.com noted.
“Even though it’s a city of 1.6 million people, I can go anywhere in the city and most of the time, I run into somebody that I know,” Amaro said.
Houston is the second most affordable luxury market in February, with the entry to the top 10% of homes in the metro starting at $794,170, up 2.4% from last year, Realtor.com said.
The Houston area also stood out for the pace of its high-end tier, with the typical luxury property staying on the market just 54 days, reflecting intense demand and an active buyer pool, Realtor.com noted.
Elsewhere in the Sun Belt, Orlando, Florida, came in third, with its luxury threshold reaching $893,671, just 2.2 times the local median, followed by Charlotte, North Carolina, at $898,840.
“Land supply and outward development in Sun Belt metros allow builder-grade luxury to proliferate, and help keep prices from diverging too far from the median,” Realtor.com Senior Economist Anthony Smith said.
