Homebuyer demand is starting to stabilize as October home sales posted the largest decline since 2015, according to a new report.

While existing home sales are down, housing starts have increased year over year. Houston has also seen a healthy increase in inventory.

First-time homebuyers account for the lowest percentage of buyers ever recorded, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

New listings were down 6.6% year over year in the week ended Oct. 31, according to Houston Association of REALTORS®’s Weekly Activity Snapshot.

The Houston Association of REALTORS® FRESH Report shows that while new listings are down, active listings nearly double the amount of inventory that was available in October of 2021.

The median age of inventory in Houston is 57 days, down from 83 before the pandemic began.

Looking ahead, CoreLogic expects national year-over-year appreciation to slow to 3.9% by September 2023. 

September is the fourth month in a row to see declining sales activity. 

A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.08% this week from 6.94% a week ago, Freddie Mac reported. A year ago, the average mortgage carried a 3.14% rate. 

Houston Realtors entered 2,555 properties into the MLS for the week ending Oct. 24. That’s a 5% decrease from last year, when 2,689 new properties were listed.