Home Town is back in January and the “small-town makeover” formula is still winning

HGTV is starting the new year by returning to one of its most reliable comfort watches, and you are very much invited back to Laurel, Mississippi. Home Town is set to open its next chapter in January, and the familiar “small-town makeover” rhythm that turned the series into a cable staple is still the core of the pitch. The stakes are higher now, with a crowded slate of real estate reality shows chasing your attention, but the Napiers’ formula of community-first renovation is positioned as a steady counterweight to louder, flashier formats.

Season 10 lands in January, and the schedule tells you a lot

You will not have to wait long to see fresh sawdust flying in Laurel, because Home Town Season 10 is locked in for early January as part of HGTV’s first wave of 2026 programming. Industry coverage notes that Home Town Season 10 will air Jan. 4, 2026, a placement that effectively lets the show open HGTV’s real estate year. That timing is not accidental, it signals that the network still sees Ben and Erin Napier as tone setters for its brand of aspirational but grounded home content.

HGTV has already framed the new run as a centerpiece of its early 2026 lineup, with a separate announcement highlighting that the Home Town premiere will kick off a slate designed to pull viewers across linear and streaming platforms. For you, that means the show is likely to be heavily promoted on-air and in-app, and it also suggests that HGTV expects the “small-town makeover” hook to keep working as a gateway into its broader catalog of renovation and real estate series.

The Napiers’ update reassured fans that the core show is secure

If you followed the end of Season 9, you know there was a moment when viewers wondered whether the Laurel story was winding down. Erin Napier addressed that uncertainty directly, with an interview framed as Erin Napier Gives Update on When Home Town Will Return After Season 9 Finale. Her message was clear, another season of Home Town was already in motion, and she described the series as a project she and HGTV are still proud to be part of, which effectively calmed speculation that the flagship might be nearing its end.

That reassurance matters because you are not just tuning in for paint colors, you are investing in a long-running narrative about a real town and a real couple. By confirming that Home Town would return after the Season 9 finale and then following through with a January launch, HGTV and the Napiers signaled that the mainline series remains a priority even as their schedule fills with spinoffs and side projects. For fans who track every porch swing and reclaimed beam, that continuity is part of the appeal.

Why the “small-town makeover” formula still works on you

At a time when many real estate shows lean into high-end markets or rapid-fire flipping, Home Town’s focus on one Southern community gives you a different kind of emotional payoff. The show’s DNA is rooted in the idea that revitalizing a single block in Laurel can ripple through a neighborhood, and that you can see the impact of each renovation on local businesses, schools, and families. That premise is baked into the way Home Town, one of HGTV’s most beloved and popular shows, has always been described, with its emphasis on the small town of Laurel, Mississippi.

Because the series keeps returning to the same streets, you get to watch a long-term experiment in community design rather than a one-off reveal. That is a key reason the “small-town makeover” structure keeps winning, and it is also why the show’s search footprint remains strong enough to anchor a dedicated Home Town knowledge panel that foregrounds its Laurel setting and renovation focus. You are not just watching a house flip, you are following a civic project that unfolds one Craftsman bungalow at a time.

HGTV is doubling down on real estate reality, and Home Town is part of the bet

Your January viewing options will sit inside a much larger strategic push from HGTV to own more hours of real estate reality TV. The network’s parent company has already touted HGTV as a top 10 prime cable network and confirmed that it has ordered over 100 episodes of new and returning series, a slate that includes breakout hit Flip, Married to Real Estate, Fixer to Fabulous, and other franchises like Battle on the Beach, Rock the Block, and Bargain Block, as detailed in a HGTV orders announcement. In that context, Home Town is not an outlier, it is a pillar in a crowded but carefully curated lineup.

For you, this means the Napiers’ show is competing for attention alongside a wave of new titles, yet it is also being used as a familiar anchor that can help launch those newer formats. The same corporate update that highlighted Flip and other series also underscored how HGTV is programming blocks of complementary shows, which is where a steady performer like Home Town fits in. When you tune in for Laurel, you are likely to be served promos for everything from lakefront renovations to budget beach makeovers, and the network is betting that your loyalty to the Napiers will spill over into the rest of its schedule.

Ben and Erin Napier are busier than ever, but still front and center

Part of what keeps you coming back is the sense that you know Ben and Erin Napier as more than just hosts, and Season 10 leans into that familiarity. HGTV has already teased a Watch Sneak Peek that shows Ben and Erin Napier in Season 10 of Home Town, balancing renovation work with navigating their busy family life. That framing invites you to see their on-screen decisions about floor plans and finishes as extensions of the same values they apply at home.

The couple’s expanding portfolio also shapes what you will see on screen. They are not just renovating houses, they are managing a growing brand that now includes spinoffs and side projects, which means their time is stretched even as they remain the faces of the flagship. When you watch them debate whether to preserve original woodwork or introduce modern conveniences, you are also watching two people who are juggling parenthood, production schedules, and the expectations that come with being HGTV’s small-town ambassadors.

The spinoff puzzle: why they are stepping back from Home Town Takeover

As the Home Town universe grows, you will notice a key change in one corner of it, the Napiers will not be hosting the upcoming season of Home Town Takeover. They have been candid about that decision, explaining that they are not “legally allowed” to host the entire upcoming season because of Canadian law, a point they made in a conversation recapped with the headline that Cinemablend heard from Erin and Ben Napier. The new season of the spinoff is set in a Canadian town, and local rules around hosting and production have effectively sidelined them from their usual on-camera roles.

That legal wrinkle has real programming consequences. Because of the law, the Napiers will step away from the new season of Home Town Takeover in favor of a new pair of Canadian hosts who have not yet been announced. For you as a viewer, that means the spinoff will feel different, even as it keeps the same basic premise of transforming an entire town. It also reinforces why the main Home Town series, still firmly anchored in Laurel and fronted by Ben and Erin, carries so much emotional weight in HGTV’s lineup.

What Erin and Ben have said about not hosting the new Takeover season

If you are wondering how the couple feels about stepping aside, they have already addressed it directly. In a detailed explanation, Erin and Ben Napier Say They Wont Host Their New Home Town Spin Off, Here, Why, laying out that the decision is not about creative differences or burnout but about compliance with Canadian regulations. They have framed it as a practical constraint rather than a dramatic exit, which is important if you are trying to read the tea leaves about their long-term commitment to the franchise.

Another breakdown of the situation, structured as What To Know about why Erin and Ben Napier cannot host the new season of Home Town Takeover, reinforces that point by emphasizing the legal and logistical barriers. For you, the takeaway is that their absence from this particular spinoff does not signal trouble for the main series. Instead, it highlights how international production rules can reshape even the most personality-driven shows, and why HGTV is experimenting with new hosts while keeping the Napiers at the center of the Laurel storyline.

New projects like Home Town: Inn This Together expand the universe

Even as they step back from one spinoff, the Napiers are not slowing down their broader Home Town ecosystem. They have already shared a big update on another project, confirming that their upcoming HGTV show, Home Town: Inn This Togeth, will air in 2026 and that it will focus on preserving a historic property while respecting the house’s original features, a detail highlighted in a What To Know style update. For you, that means the couple’s storytelling will extend beyond single-family homes into hospitality and adaptive reuse.

This new series fits neatly into the “small-town makeover” ethos that drew you to Home Town in the first place. By turning an inn into a character in its own right, Home Town: Inn This Togeth will let you see how design decisions affect not just one family but every guest who walks through the door. It also gives HGTV another way to leverage the Napiers’ appeal without overloading the main Laurel series, which helps explain how they can keep Season 10 feeling focused even as their brand stretches into new formats.

How Home Town holds its own in a crowded 2026 reality landscape

When you scan the 2026 real estate reality grid, you will see a lot of familiar names jostling for your time. The same industry preview that flagged the Jan. 4 return of Home Town Season 10 also noted that Also returning are Fixer to Fabulous, My Lottery Dream Home, The Flip, and House Hunters International, along with Battle on the Beach and Rock the Block. That cluster of returning hits underscores how competitive the space has become, and how much pressure there is on each show to sharpen its identity.

Home Town’s answer is not to chase spectacle but to double down on what you already value about it, continuity, community, and a sense of place. The show’s long-running presence in HGTV’s schedule, its strong search visibility, and its positioning alongside other tentpoles all suggest that the “small-town makeover” formula is still delivering for both viewers and advertisers. As you head into January, you will have no shortage of renovation content to choose from, but if you are looking for a series that treats a town as carefully as it treats a kitchen island, Laurel’s latest chapter is ready for you when the new season begins.

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*This article was developed with AI-powered tools and has been carefully reviewed by our editors.