Houston’s declining home sales posted their smallest annual decrease in over a year in August, marking the ending of homebuying season and the market’s “soft landing” into the fall and winter off-season, the Houston Association of REALTORS® said in its August Market Update.

Specifically, single-family home sales slid 3.8% in August, the lowest decline since May 2022. That’s the 17th straight month of declines. Meanwhile, months of supply rose to 3.3 months, reaching levels Houston hasn’t seen since May 2020. A year ago, Houston’s inventory sat at a 2.4-month supply.

In contrast, the luxury housing segment — that is, homes priced $1 million and up — experienced gains last month, with closings rising 21.3% year over year.

“While some of the August numbers for the Houston housing market were in negative territory, they are part of a gradual return to normalcy from pandemic-era trends that were unsustainable,” HAR Chair Cathy Treviño said in the report. “We are working our way back to a better place with resale housing while continuing to see strong activity in the rental market.”

Prices continued to stabilize in August, with the average price edging up 2.5% to $420,124. Houston’s record-high home prices occurred in May 2022, when the average home sold for $438,250.