The house at 1249 Herring in Gateway Parks is a three-bedroom, 2.5-bath Starlight Homes Radiance plan with 2,060 square feet. It is ready now. On the builder's page, a $354,990 price is listed above a current price of $299,000. That works out to about $145 per square foot for a brand-new home. In September 2026, the median price per square foot for single-family homes sold through the MLS in Forney was $149.57.
If you're getting ready to list a Forney home this season, that gap matters more than any headline median. Buyers touring your house are likely also walking through new homes a few streets away. Those homes are priced to move, and their sellers are on a closing calendar.
The Median Rose While Every Other Number Moved the Other Way
The September 2026 report from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M, built on North Texas Real Estate Information System MLS data, put Forney's median single-family sale price at $349,900, up 7.7% from a year earlier. Read alone, that sounds like a seller's market. The rest of the row tells a different story.
| September 2026 | Forney | Kaufman County | DFW metro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $349,900 | $305,000 | $385,000 |
| Sold-to-list ratio | 91.0% | 93.4% | 93.9% |
| Days on market | 91 | 77 | 62 |
| Months of inventory | 6.5 | 6.0 | 4.3 |
In September 2026, Forney's average sale price fell 2.5% to $351,609, and median price per square foot fell 2.3%. Closed sales dropped from 62 to 47 year over year, while active listings rose from 273 to 315. Inventory went from 3.9 months to 6.5. With only 47 sales, a small shift in which homes happened to close can move the median. Price per square foot and the sold-to-list ratio are better gauges of what buyers are actually paying.
On that last measure, Forney trailed both the county and the metro. A 91.0% sold-to-list ratio means the typical September sale closed about 9% below its final list price. On a $349,900 list price, that's roughly $31,500.
The report also leaves something out on purpose. Its notes say sales by home builders outside the MLS were not included. In a city where several builders are selling move-in-ready homes directly, the competition your listing faces is larger than the MLS count shows.
What Is Sitting Ready a Few Streets Away
Here are the markdowns posted on builder pages heading into November, community by community:
- Gateway Parks, Starlight Homes. Seven ready-now homes, each showing two prices. Beyond 1249 Herring, the 1,877-square-foot Equinox at 1250 Lambert Lane shows $342,490 and $309,000, and a 2,223-square-foot Ember at 1274 Lambert Ln shows $335,490 and $325,000.
- Gateway Parks, Ashton Woods. Four Bachman Lane homes tagged "Price Reduced," at $359,000, $360,000, $369,000 and $384,000. The same page gives a community figure of "From $394,490," so the reduced inventory homes are priced below the builder's own starting number.
- Devonshire Reserve, Perry Homes. 2903 Soaring Hills Drive, move-in ready, is listed at $406,900 against a displayed $485,900. Two homes on Bathwick Lane show similar gaps: $424,900 against $488,900, and $474,900 against $513,900.
- Walden Pond, Lennar. A move-in-ready four-bedroom at 2011 Brackett Pond Road at $296,999, labeled with a $25,000 price cut, and 2106 Martins Pond Road at $304,999, also with a $25,000 reduction.
- Devonshire, other builders. William Ryan Homes lists four quick move-in homes from $364,990 to $521,990. HistoryMaker Homes lists six quick move-ins. Ashton Woods shows one at 1709 Coachman Drive for $434,300.
Six builders across three communities are showing the same pattern. Much of this inventory sits right around Forney's $349,900 median, which is exactly where a typical resale listing would be priced.
Builders Spend Differently Than Homeowners Do
A list price is only part of what a builder can offer. William Ryan Homes' Fall 2026 DFW promotion, advertised for Devonshire, lets a buyer choose from up to $7,500 toward closing costs or a rate buydown, a rate lock during construction, up to $10,000 in design allowance, appliances and blinds, half off lot premiums, and half off the first three structural options. Terms vary by home. Perry Homes is running a DFW Year End Sales Event on select homes through a savings certificate.
A builder chooses how a discount shows up. It can be a lower price, a lower monthly payment through a buydown, or upgrades that cost the builder less than their retail value. A homeowner has one pool of money, the equity in the house. Every concession comes straight out of net proceeds, and the payment a buyer is quoted on a resale is usually the market rate, with no builder-funded buydown behind it.
This isn't only happening in Forney. NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reported on October 20, 2026 that the National Association of Home Builders' October survey found 43% of builders nationally cut prices, by 6% on average, and 65% used sales incentives. That extends a run of 19 straight months with at least 60% of builders offering them. The same report described one buyer who received $50,000 in builder incentives, part of it used to buy down the mortgage rate. Closer to home, The Dallas Morning News reported that Dallas had about 30,854 sellers and 14,865 buyers in August data. It quoted an analyst who attributed part of Texas's seller surplus to new construction and builders' price cuts and incentives.
Builder Offers Run on a Monthly Calendar
The timing of these offers explains why the competition shifts week to week. Builder promotions come with contract and closing deadlines:
- Starlight Homes advertised a 3.99% FHA 5/1 ARM at Gateway Parks for contracts written October 1 through October 31, 2026, with closing by November 30.
- HistoryMaker Homes' Devonshire financing example required contracts by October 31, 2026, and closing by April 30, 2027.
- Lennar's DFW Black Friday promotion on select homes set an agreement window of October 30 to November 6, with closing by November 30. It advertised up to $20,000 off, a $100 earnest money deposit, and half off homesite premiums up to $5,000.
- Perry Homes' year-end offer requires closing by December 31, 2026.
The first two had already expired by the time this post went up. New offers usually replace old ones on a regular cycle, and the deadlines are what move inventory. A builder trying to close homes by November 30 or December 31 is a different competitor in mid-November than it will be in the first week of January. A seller who lists near a builder's month-end or year-end push is going up against its most aggressive pricing.
These offers come with conditions, too. Starlight's financing required its affiliated lender. HistoryMaker's ARM example was tied to a specific purchase price and qualifying loan terms. A resale doesn't carry those strings. A buyer can use any lender they choose and set a closing date that fits their own move, which matters a lot to a household coordinating a relocation or a lease end.
Pricing a Resale Against a Moving Target
Taken together, these facts point to a pricing approach built on the builder homes nearby rather than on last spring's closed sales. In practice, that means:
- Pull the price per square foot on move-in-ready homes in Gateway Parks, Devonshire and Walden Pond, using current prices rather than the crossed-out ones, and set your listing against those.
- Compare your buyer's monthly payment to what a builder buydown can produce, and don't stop at the list price.
- Treat the 91.0% sold-to-list ratio as Forney's going rate for the gap between what sellers ask and what they get, and decide in advance how much of that gap you'd rather give as price and how much as closing-cost help.
- Check which builder deadlines fall during your planned listing window.
Rate buydowns and closing-cost credits depend on the loan program and each buyer's situation. This post is general market information, not legal, tax or financial advice, so please confirm the details with a lender or other qualified professional.
Quick Answers
Are Forney home prices going up? The median rose 7.7% to $349,900 in September 2026. Over the same period, average price and price per square foot both fell, and homes sold at 91.0% of list.
Do MLS numbers include new homes? They include new and existing homes sold through the MLS. Sales handled directly by builders outside the MLS are left out.
How does Forney compare with the rest of DFW right now? In September 2026, Forney had 6.5 months of inventory, compared with 4.3 across DFW. Forney homes also spent 91 days on market, compared with 62 metro-wide.
If you're planning to list in Forney and want a price set against the builder inventory actually competing with your home this month, Quentin Crayton can put that comparison together with you, community by community, before your listing date is set. Let's Connect.
