Waxahachie

Waxahachie is the Ellis County seat, on I-35E about 30 miles south of Dallas and 40 from downtown Fort Worth. It has one of the oldest housing stocks south of the Metroplex, with houses going back to the 1890s around its courthouse square, and a new-construction boom on its edges. It's also one of the few places on the south side where new construction isn't falling.

Over the three years ending September 2026, Waxahachie produced 3,211 closed sales at a median of $410,000. I'm a Texas broker and a Certified Residential Appraiser. Here is what those sales show.

Flat, in every segment

Controlling for house size, lot size and build year, Waxahachie values have moved −0.02% a year (p = 0.97). That's as flat as a market gets, and it holds everywhere I cut it:

None of those is distinguishable from flat except the last one.

New construction is holding its price

That last line is unusual. In Crowley, Cleburne and Alvarado, new construction is falling 3–6% a year. In Midlothian, next door, builders are holding the sticker but have nearly tripled their concessions. In Waxahachie, new-home prices are steady to slightly up:

Concessions on new houses haven't climbed the way they have in Midlothian, and new houses close at about 96% of original list, against about 93% there.

The gap between new and resale is also one of the widest on the south side, alongside Burleson: $459,950 for a new house against a $372,000 resale median, about $88,000. A Waxahachie resale seller isn't competing with a cheaper new house down the road. The new houses are a different, more expensive product.

The old town

179 sales in three years were houses built before 1950, with a median build year of 1920. That's the largest collection of genuinely old houses in any market I cover south of Fort Worth.

• Median $285,000 on 1,610 square feet, about $184 a foot, the same per-foot price as the city as a whole
• Median 28 days on market, faster than new construction or the typical resale
• Trend: flat (−1.2% a year, p = 0.69)

A century-old house sells at the same price per foot as a 2008 house here, and sells faster. There's a buyer for this stock. What decides the price is what's been done to the house:

• Foundation: pier-and-beam on Ellis County's expansive clay needs regular releveling, and the history matters
• Electrical: knob-and-tube or undersized service is a financing and insurance problem, not just an upgrade
• Plumbing and the sewer line to the street
• Roof, HVAC and windows, with hail setting the roof clock in North Texas
• Historic district rules, if the house is in one, since they can govern exterior changes

Water is worth measuring here

Only 39 site-built sales were flagged as waterfront, most on creeks and the rest on lakes. Controlling for size, lot and build year, waterfront houses sold about 12% higher (p = 0.0001), and about 15% with build-decade controls. On the 17 true lakefront sales, the premium was about 18%.

Those are small numbers, and I'd treat the figures as a range rather than a precise adjustment. But unlike Grapevine, where eleven waterfront sales showed nothing, the premium here is visible in the data. For a lot on the water, confirm whether the frontage is private or through a common area, and whether it's a Corps of Engineers shoreline, since that affects what can be built at the water's edge.

Land

Waxahachie had 236 closed land sales over the same three years, at a median of $167,500 on 2.01 acres.

Controlling for acreage, Waxahachie land prices have risen about 5.7% a year (p = 0.04). A one-acre homesite went from about $120,000 in 2023 to $144,000 in 2026.

About 50% of land parcels that came to market never sold, and 56% of the ones that did were bought with cash. Price acreage from closed land sales, not from what's listed.

Across the south side, the price of an acre lines up with which markets are holding:

The three most expensive, Mansfield, Burleson and Midlothian, are all flat or rising on resale. The two cheapest, Godley and Cleburne, are both falling overall. It isn't a perfect line, since Granbury sits in the middle and is falling, but it fits the pattern in new construction: where land is expensive, builders have a harder time undercutting the resale market.

What it costs

• Median close $410,000 on 2,316 square feet, about $184 per foot
• Median lot 9,845 square feet; 26% of sales on an acre or more
• Closed prices ran $55,000 to $6.9 million
• Median 47 days on market at 96.7% of original list
• 60% of sales carried seller concessions
• Effective property tax rate on resales about 1.78%
• 57% carry HOA dues, at a $450 median
• 27% of buyers used FHA
• Parcel-level failure rate 18.4%

The two ZIP codes are different markets. 75165 (2,485 sales) is most of the city, at a $391,000 median. 75167 (684 sales) runs to a $529,985 median, with more acreage.

On a brand-new house, the tax figure in the listing usually reflects the lot before the house was finished. It averages 0.40% here, which isn't what you'll pay. Budget from the resale rate and confirm with the Ellis County appraisal district.

School districts

Most of Waxahachie is Waxahachie ISD (2,850 site-built sales). The rest is split among Maypearl, Midlothian, Palmer and Red Oak ISDs, each with 47 to 138 sales, mostly on rural parcels.

None shows a difference I'd rely on. The Midlothian ISD part of Waxahachie comes out +3.7% (p = 0.15), not measurable. That's consistent with what I found in Midlothian, where the Waxahachie ISD side of BridgeWater sold lower, but because of the builder's product line rather than the district. Between these two districts, I can't find a school effect in either direction. Palmer ISD comes out lower, but 22 of its 56 sales are in one subdivision, so it's the same problem: the district and the development are the same houses.

Manufactured homes

Manufactured homes are a small part of Waxahachie: 32 sales, about 1%. Controlling for size, lot and age, they sold about 40% below comparable site-built houses, a wider gap than I've found in Johnson County, though on few sales. Compare them only with each other, and settle the financing questions first: foundation, HUD labels, whether the home has been moved, and its real-property status.

How Waxahachie compares

Read the gap column against the new-construction trend. The markets where new houses sell for $88,000 or more above resale, Ovilla, Burleson and Waxahachie, are holding. The four where the gap is $61,000 or less are all falling, and the steepest declines are where builders are closest to the resale price. That's a pattern, not proof, but it's consistent across every city in the table.

This isn't just a local quirk. I tested it across 19 markets and 40,703 closed sales: the size of the lot predicts which houses are losing value better than the town does, with subdivision lots down about 1% a year and acreage up about 1%.

What I look at in a Waxahachie house

• Its age, first. A 1920 house, a 2008 house and a 2025 house here are three different markets.
• On old houses: foundation, electrical, plumbing, sewer line, and any historic district rules.
• Which ZIP code, since 75167 runs about $140,000 higher.
• Water frontage, and whether it's private, common-area or Corps shoreline.
• The land on the quarter of sales on an acre or more, plus septic, well and any deed restrictions.
• The tax figure, which on new construction usually doesn't reflect the finished house.

If you're selling in Waxahachie

The market is flat and steady, new construction is priced above you, and older houses sell fast. Price from recent sales of houses your age, in your ZIP code, and it will sell.

If you're selling a pre-1950 house, the buyers are there and they're quick, but they'll have the foundation, electrical and sewer inspected. Knowing the answers first protects the price.

On pre-listing work, the order matters more than the budget. What to fix before you list, and in what order tests fourteen improvements against 33,000 closings. If the work needs doing and the cash is tied up, Compass Concierge covers it up front and is repaid at closing.

Buying or selling in Waxahachie

Thirty-two hundred sales, houses from the 1890s to this year, a flat market in every segment, new construction that's holding its price, and a measurable premium on the water.

What I can tell you is what the closed sales on houses your age, your size and your part of town actually support, and how wide the range around that is.

Browse active listings in this price range, or call or text (682) 207-4310, or send me a note.

Figures are medians and model results from NTREIS listings and closed sales with a Waxahachie address for the three years ending September 2026, reported in aggregate. "New construction" means a house sold in or within a year after its build year. School attendance boundaries, tax rates, HOA dues, financing rules and market conditions change. Confirm current figures for a specific address before relying on them. Nothing here is an appraisal or a valuation of any particular property.