Houzez is a WordPress theme from Favethemes built for one job: running a real estate website. Tracked since 2018, it's a paid product that sits among the few hundred most used themes we track — kept alive almost entirely by property listing sites.
A theme built around the listing, not the blog
Houzez isn't a general theme dressed up for real estate — it's built the other way round. Property, agent, and agency listings are custom post types in the core, backed by two companion plugins, houzez-theme-functionality and houzez-studio, that run search filters, saved listings, and agent dashboards. Page building runs on Elementor in current installs; older sites still run the discontinued WPBakery (js_composer). It isn't on WordPress.org — Favethemes sells it directly, with updates tied to a license.
Who actually runs it
Studying the sites running it, the niche focus is almost total: real estate dominates, with the occasional construction, hospitality, or legal site borrowing its listing layout. Most installs read as small brokerages and independent agents rather than large portals — the "services" business type dwarfs corporate or ecommerce setups. Adoption reaches well past English-speaking markets too, with a solid share of Spanish, Italian, French, and German installs, suggesting agents outside the US and UK treat it as a default for property sites.
What it gets right
For the job it's built for, Houzez is thorough: map-based property search, agent and agency profiles, saved searches and favorites, and enough listing layouts to cover residential, commercial, and rental use without custom development. The plugin stack around it — Elementor, Yoast SEO, Contact Form 7 — is standard and well-supported, so a solo agent or small team can run the site without a developer on retainer.
If real estate isn't quite the box you're in
Houzez's specialization is also its ceiling. For a general services or agency site, a broader theme like Phlox Pro or Stockholm makes more sense, without the listing-specific baggage. xtra is a similar general-purpose option if you want theme options and post formats without the real-estate scaffolding. Favethemes also sells homeY, a lighter take on the same property idea, worth a look if Houzez feels dated for your market.
What the sales page leaves out
Houzez bundles RevSlider, a slider plugin with a rough security history that keeps showing up on Houzez sites years after most themes dropped it — worth checking on any older install you inherit. The theme has little child-theme culture, so deep customization usually means editing the parent theme directly rather than extending it cleanly. And the two companion plugins aren't optional extras: without them the theme loses its core listing features, tying your update cycle to three products instead of one.
Before you buy it
Is Houzez free?
No. It's a premium theme sold directly by Favethemes; you need a paid license for updates and support, and it isn't listed on WordPress.org.
What page builder does Houzez use?
Current versions build around Elementor. Many older installs still run on WPBakery (js_composer), the theme's original builder before Elementor became the default.
Can I use Houzez for something other than real estate?
Technically yes, since it's still WordPress underneath, but its post types, search filters, and layouts assume property listings — a poor fit for a blog or general business site.
Who should actually buy it
If you're an agent, broker, or small agency that needs a working property site without hiring a developer, Houzez does what the sales page promises. If you're building anything outside real estate — a blog, a shop, a general business site — the specialization works against you, and a broader theme will serve you better. And if being tied to a builder plugin plus two proprietary companion plugins for basic functionality bothers you, that lock-in is real, not marketing exaggeration.
Last updated 2026-08-13
