Houston saw the 19th straight month of negative home sales in October as high mortgage rates continued to sideline potential buyers. However, according to the latest Market Update from the Houston Association of REALTORS®, there are still some reasons to be optimistic.

Single-family home sales fell 3.4% across Greater Houston during October, with 6,377 units sold compared to 6,603 in October 2022. The only housing segments with positive sales activity were the sub-$150,000 market and the $1 million-plus market.

The total dollar volume for single-family sales fell to $2.98 billion, down from $3.06 billion a year prior. However, pending home sales increased by 11% year over year, indicating positive potential sales in the coming weeks and months.

Overall, prices moderated during the month, with the average price rising 0.4% to $403,556 and the median price declining 0.9% to $327,000. Both figures are well below the record highs of $438,250 in May 2022 and $354,000 in June 2022, respectively.

Meanwhile, months of supply reached 3.6 months — the highest volume since November 2019 — with 12.5% more active listings on the market year over year. That nearly makes Houston a balanced market, which typically has a four-to-six month supply.

“The Houston real estate market had an encore performance of slower home sales and solid rental activity in October, and we can probably expect those trends to prevail for the rest of the year,” HAR Chair Cathy Treviño said in the report. “Housing inventory has grown steadily in recent months and pricing has moderated, so any notable decline in mortgage rates will likely spark renewed interest in homebuying, but only the Fed can control whether that happens.”