Tulsa Housing Market Update: October 2026

October in Tulsa: the leaves finally turned, the State Fair funnel cake has worn off, and the housing market handed buyers the most choices they've had in seven years. It also handed them the highest mortgage rates in almost two. Here's how those two things fit together, what's happening around town, and where the opportunity sits this month.

Tulsa by the numbers (September 2026)

What changed this month

• Inventory hit a seven-year high. Active listings across the Tulsa metro rose for the fifth straight month to 3,462 in September, the most since July 2019.¹ If it feels like there are more signs in yards than you've seen in years, that's because there are.
• Rates broke back above 7%. The 30-year fixed crossed 7% in late September for the first time since January 2025, touched 7.40% in mid-October, and eased to 7.24% the week of October 29.⁴ A year ago it was 6.17%. On a $270,000 loan, that year-over-year move is about $192 a month.
• The closed market is still moving. The median Tulsa County home sold for $289,000 in September, up 3.6% from a year earlier, with 722 closings. Sellers received about 99% of asking on average, and well-priced homes still went under contract in about three weeks.²
• Homes that miss on price are sitting longer. The metro-wide median time on market rose to 60 days, from 56 in August and 56 a year ago.³ Same story as last month, sharper edges: the gap between three weeks and sixty days is pricing.

Nationally, the picture rhymes. Existing-home sales ticked up 1.5% in September, the median price rose 1.3% to $417,500, the median listing took 33 days to go under contract, and supply reached 4.8 months.⁶ Tulsa's $289,000 median is still the headline reason people keep landing here.

Around Tulsa

700 new jobs are coming to Owasso. Greenheck Group, the Wisconsin ventilation manufacturer that already runs eight buildings in the Tulsa area, is expanding into a former Macy's facility in Owasso. The company expects about 700 new jobs over five years, with the potential to reach 1,400 within ten.⁷ Between this and the Google data center campus next door, the Owasso-Collinsville corridor keeps earning its spot at the top of my relocation conversations.

The Center of the Universe is getting a $7 million makeover. Downtown's famous acoustic oddity breaks ground on a renovation November 16, with new green space, structural repairs to the pedestrian bridge, and a maintenance fund to keep it up. BOK Financial is the lead donor at $1.75 million, alongside the City of Tulsa, PSO, and the George Kaiser Family Foundation, and locals are filling a time capsule to be sealed at the groundbreaking.⁸ Small project by dollar count, but downtown landmarks like this are part of why close-in neighborhoods hold value.

The Cherokee Nation opened its first affordable rentals in north Tulsa. Seven two-bedroom apartments, built in partnership with Green Country Habitat for Humanity with grant support from the City of Tulsa, with the tribe's housing authority set to purchase them by the end of the year. The units were first offered to Cherokee citizens on the tribe's low-income rental waiting list, and they come out of a program that commits $40 million in tribal funds to housing every three years.⁹ North Tulsa keeps quietly adding housing stock, and that matters for the whole metro.

Rental watch

A quick read on the rental side of the market, whether you own a rental, are thinking about one, or are weighing renting versus buying.

For context, the national median one-bedroom rent is $1,519 and the two-bedroom median is $1,901, both roughly flat year over year.¹¹ A Tulsa one-bedroom rents for about 40% less than the national median, which is the quiet engine behind most of the out-of-state investor calls I get.

The investor angle: rents are up about 2% and closed prices are up about 3.6% year over year, so Tulsa's rent-to-price math is holding steady. Returns always depend on the specific property and how well it's managed, so treat those as market averages, not a promise. The real change this month is on the buy side: with inventory at a seven-year high and rates above 7%, the investors still in the market have more negotiating room than they've had in years, and fewer people to outbid.

Thinking about a first rental property, or already own one here? My free Rental Investing Guide covers the neighborhoods, the numbers, and the Oklahoma-specific rules.

One smart move for October

If you've been waiting for the right time to buy a rental property here, this is the most interesting setup in years: 3,462 listings to pick from, sellers negotiating on price and credits, and less competition at the table because 7% rates scared off the casual buyers. The move is to run the numbers at today's rate, not the rate you hope to refinance into. If a property cash-flows at 7.25%, a refi later is a bonus instead of a rescue plan. And if it only works at 5.5%, it doesn't work. Be picky, make offers that reflect sixty-day market times, and let the math say no for you.

Let's talk

Wondering what 3,462 competing listings mean for your home's price? Trying to figure out whether to buy now at 7.24% or keep waiting? Email me at ben@bennemecek.com. I read every note. Or grab a time on my calendar.