The outside temperature isn’t the only thing cooling off in Houston as October comes to an end. New listings in Week 42 were down 8.1% compared to the same time last year, according to the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) weekly activity snapshot. 

This was the fourth consecutive week that new listings trended negatively compared to 2020. Realtors entered 2,546 properties into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in the week ended Oct. 25, down from 2,770 last year. 

Pending listings followed suit, dropping 11.7%. A total of 2,285 property listings went under contract, down from 2,588 during the same week in 2020. “This may portend a slower pace of closings in the weeks ahead,” the report said.

Off-market listings remained 24.8% below where they were last year at this time. A total of 876 homes went from active to off-market status.

The number of sold listings during Week 42 was only slightly lower than the same week in 2020. Closed sales of homes totaled 2,010, a 1.5% decrease from last year. On a year-to-year basis, local home sales have been running 15.3% ahead of 2020.

Showings again attracted less activity than during the same period last year. Year-over-year traffic at Houston-area property showings totaled 32,602, down 13.3% from 7,602 in 2020.