Houston home listings held to positive territory on a year-over-year basis for a third consecutive week in the week ended Aug. 9, and the listing volume continues to gain ground from earlier this year, according to a Houston Association of Realtors report.

Real estate agents entered 3,368 properties into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) during the week, compared to 3,228 a year earlier, representing a 4.3% increase. Pending listings trailed for an eleventh straight week, however.

A total of 2,506 property listings went under contract during the period, versus 3,014 in the same period a year earlier. That is a 16.9% year-over-year drop in the number of listings that went under contract.

Sellers withdrew fewer property listings from the MLS during the week of Aug. 9 compared to the same week in 2020. Off-market listings remained 15.2% below their year-ago level. A total of 1,042 homes went from active to off-market during the period relative to 1,228 the year before.

Local homebuying activity registered a tiny gain during the week, as limited inventory continued to loom large over the market. Closed sales of homes totaled 2,345 versus 2,331 for the same week last year. That is a fractional 0.6% increase — just enough to end five straight weeks of declines.

Year-over-year traffic at Houston area property showings was down 15.3% for the week ended Aug. 9. The number of showings totaled 40,656, compared to 47,992 for the same week in 2020.