Texas · San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX metro area

Buying a home in New Braunfels, Texas

In New Braunfels, the median value of owner-occupied homes is $339,400, Comal County's effective property tax rate is 1.13%, a purchase mortgage carried a median $8,555 in total loan costs in 2025, and median gross rent is $1,654 a month.

Data as of : Census ACS 2020-2024, Census Vintage 2024, HMDA 2025, HUD FY 2027. Sources

New Braunfels home costs, fact by fact

About New Braunfels

In Comal County, the effective property tax rate (median tax as a share of home value) is 1.13%, and HUD's Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom is $1,441. New Braunfels, Texas, has a population of 116,477, and its median value of owner-occupied homes, estimated by owners rather than a sale price, is $339,400.

Reading the New Braunfels figures

New Braunfels reports a median home value of $339,400, above both the Texas median of $318,100 and the $320,700 reported for Dallas. Carrollton posts $381,000 while Lewisville posts $378,500, so both sit higher. League City reaches $360,000. Pearland comes to $356,300. Denton stands a little higher still, at $348,200. College Station reports $346,700, which puts New Braunfels near the lower edge of that group. Midland reports $319,200, a little lower, and Irving $315,600. Owners supplied these values rather than buyers, but the pattern shows the city in the upper part of the 45 covered Texas cities.

The tax read has a twist. Comal County's median value reaches $427,200, well above the city's own $339,400, and its median annual property tax is $4,833 at a rate of 1.13% of value. The rate gets applied to county values that run higher than the city's, so the $4,833 bill reflects a higher-valued county sample than a typical New Braunfels home. A buyer in the city should treat the county bill as an upper reference and use the rate to estimate their own.

Rent comes to $1,654 a month at the median. Dallas sits lower, at $1,472, and Denton lower still, at $1,420. Irving comes close behind, at $1,619. Pearland runs higher, at $1,860, as does Carrollton, at $1,735. HUD's Fair Market Rent for the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX HUD Metro FMR Area is $1,441 for a 2-bedroom home, with the larger home type listed at $1,864. HUD's number is a rental-assistance benchmark rather than a market median, and the city's median covers every unit size, so the two are not directly comparable. The city's median rent still runs above the HUD figure for a 2-bedroom home.

Of households here, 65.3% own. League City's owner share is 74.7%, Pearland's 76.2%, both higher. Carrollton shows 58.5%. Lewisville falls to 46.3%, and College Station to 35.4%. Dallas stands at 42.4%. New Braunfels therefore reads as an owner-leaning city, much like Midland, which has 65.1%.

Loan costs round out the picture. Lenders in Comal County reported 2,922 loans in the 2025 HMDA data; the median loan cost reached $8,555, and the middle band ran from $5,496 to $13,061. The top of that range is wide. The city belongs to the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX metro area, ranked 24th nationally with 2,763,006 residents, and the city itself counts 116,477 people across 2 counties. Ask a lender for a written estimate before you compare New Braunfels with other Texas cities.

Calculate for Texas

If you buy

Texas state transfer tax

Texas has no real estate transfer tax. Change the price: the amount is recalculated instantly.

Price$318,100
State transfer tax$0
Share of the price—

Default price: the Texas median value of owner-occupied homes, $318,100 (Census ACS 2025). Rule: No transfer tax exists. Buyers pay county recording fees and a state-set title insurance premium. Who pays: No transfer tax to assign. Recording fees and the title insurance premium appear on the closing statement. Not included: county and city transfer taxes, recording fees, title insurance and lender charges. Texas transfer tax guide · all 50 states.

If you sell

Capital gain and the federal tax on it

Same federal rule in every state: Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code excludes up to $250,000 of gain on a main home ($500,000 for a married couple filing jointly).

Capital gain$350,000
Section 121 exclusion$250,000 (limit $250,000)
Taxable gain$100,000
Type of gainLong-term (owned over 1 year), 15% chosen
Federal tax on the gain$15,000

Section 121 excludes $250,000; the rest is taxable.

Gain = sale price minus your adjusted basis (purchase price, buying costs and improvements); selling expenses reduce it (IRS Publication 523). Long-term rates for sales in 2026, by taxable income including the gain (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.03): 0% up to $49,450 single or $98,900 married filing jointly, 15% up to $545,500 single or $613,700 jointly, 20% above. Not included: Texas state income tax on the gain (not computed), the net investment income tax, depreciation recapture on a rental or home office, and the reduced exclusion for an early sale. Agent commissions are negotiated and never set by law. Capital gains on a home sale.

Questions about buying a home in New Braunfels

How much is property tax in New Braunfels?

Homeowners in Comal County pay a median $4,833 a year in property tax, 1.13% of the county median home value of $427,200 (Census ACS 2020-2024). Your bill depends on your assessed value and local rates.

What are closing costs on a mortgage in New Braunfels?

Home-purchase mortgages in Comal County carried median total loan costs of $8,555 in 2025; half of the 2,922 loans fell between $5,496 and $13,061 (HMDA). Total loan costs are the lender and settlement-service charges of the Closing Disclosure; transfer taxes and prepaid items come on top.

Is there a transfer tax when you buy a home in New Braunfels?

Texas has no real estate transfer tax. Article VIII, Section 29 of the Texas Constitution, added November 3, 2015, says no law enacted after January 1, 2016 may impose a transfer tax on a transaction that conveys fee simple title to real property.

Is it cheaper to rent or buy in New Braunfels?

It depends on your mortgage rate, down payment and how long you stay. As a benchmark, the median value of owner-occupied homes in New Braunfels ($339,400) equals 17.1 years of the median gross rent ($1,654 a month), both from Census ACS 2020-2024.

What natural hazards affect home insurance in New Braunfels?

Across Texas, the main hazards for home insurance are flood, tornado, wind and hail, and the insurer of last resort is Texas FAIR Plan Association (TFPA). Texas gets more tornadoes than any other state, according to the Texas Department of Insurance; on the coast, windstorm coverage comes from a separate policy, often from TWIA, in 14 coastal counties plus part of Harris County.

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Texas rules that apply in New Braunfels

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Sources

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