Highlands sits on the west bank of the San Jacinto River, unincorporated, between Baytown and the eastern edge of Houston. ZIP 77562 is its own, which is unusual for a place this size and means the figures on this page describe Highlands rather than a neighbor.
Those figures are not flattering. The median is $260,000, houses take 71 days, and 51 active listings translate into 8.5 months of supply. That combination, a modest number of listings that nonetheless represents most of a year's absorption, tells you demand is thin rather than that stock is abundant.
Crosby, immediately north, carries 567 listings and moves them in 51 days. Same corridor, same county, opposite dynamic. Highlands is the slower market of the two by a clear margin.
The Highlands Market, ZIP 77562
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Median sale price | $260,000 |
| Median days on market | 71 days |
| Months of inventory | 8.50 |
| Active listings | 51 |
| One-year return | +0.05% |
| 20-year total return | +77.5% |
77562 covers Highlands and its immediate surroundings, so these numbers describe this market rather than a larger neighboring one.
Source: HouseCanary ZIP-level market data, July 2026. Last verified 27 July 2026.
What Actually Decides a Highlands Sale
The San Jacinto River. Highlands sits directly on it, and river flooding here is driven by upstream rainfall and reservoir releases as much as by what falls locally. Two lines of the seller's disclosure cover prior flooding and prior claims. Buyers along this stretch read those two answers before they read anything else about the house.
The Superfund site. The San Jacinto River waste pits, an EPA Superfund site, sit in the river near the I-10 crossing. Remediation has been under way for years and it is public record. It does not stop property changing hands, but out-of-area buyers who search the address encounter it, and it lengthens the time between listing and offer.
Unincorporated, with what that implies. There is no city hall. County services, county code enforcement, and a mixture of MUD water, wells and septic across different sections. A buyer's lender will want to know which applies to your property, and a septic inspection can add a two weeks to a financed closing.
Mixed lot sizes. Highlands runs from small older lots to acreage. Larger parcels appraise unreliably because the land component is hard to comp, and that is a common reason a financed contract falls apart late.
The circumstances that bring Highlands owners to us are flood-damaged property and inherited land that the family has no use for.
We buy throughout Highlands, including Highlands proper, Wallisville Road corridor, Old Highway 90, San Jacinto River frontage, Lynchburg side, Baytown borders, Crosby edge and Jones Road.
What 8.5 Months of Supply Actually Means to You
Months of inventory is the figure worth understanding here, because it is doing more work than the median.
It answers a simple question: at the current rate of sales, how long would it take to sell everything currently listed if nothing new came on? Around four to six months is generally considered balanced. Highlands is at 8.5.
That is a buyer's market, and the practical consequence is not that your house will not sell. It is that a buyer looking in Highlands has no reason to move quickly, no reason to bid against anyone, and every reason to ask for repairs after the inspection. Sellers who price for a balanced market and then hold firm typically spend well past 71 days finding out that the market is not balanced.
If your house is presentable and your timeline is flexible, that is manageable. If you have a date to meet, it is the whole problem.
Presentable house, no deadline: list it, but price for 8.5 months of supply and not for what Crosby is doing. Flood history, septic problems or a fixed date: a listing is the slow path.
Selling a House With Flood History on the River
Flooding is the single most common reason owners here call us, so it deserves a straight answer rather than reassurance.
A property with prior flooding and a filed claim is harder to finance than to sell. The claim sits on the insurance record, the next owner's premium reflects it, and a higher premium reduces what that buyer can borrow against the same house. Contracts fail at that point, several weeks in, after the property has been off the market the whole time.
None of that stops us. Flood history on the San Jacinto is priced into the offer rather than treated as a reason to walk away, and we do not ask you to remediate anything first.
What we would ask is that you disclose accurately. Local buyers know which streets took water, the county has records, and a disclosure that does not match them costs you the sale later rather than saving it now.
