The pace of new single-family home sales, meanwhile, fell 6.1% from September to 598,000. 

The median existing-home price rose for the 128th month in a row, extending its record-breaking streak of increases. 

The number of homes under construction rose during the month, as homebuilders continued to work through a large backlog of homes. 

The largest single-week decline in conventional mortgage rates since July brought the first increase in home-loan applications since September, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. 

HAR’s Q3 2022 Housing Affordability Index shows that only 41% of Houston households can afford to purchase a median-priced home. A year ago, that statistic was significantly higher at 53%.

A new study from Texas Real Estate Source reveals which Texas metro areas have seen the largest increases in property prices since 2012.

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

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. 

Mortgage rates continued to weigh on homebuyers in September, following a brief uptick in new-home sales in August.  

At the same time, mortgage applications declined 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis on a week-over-week basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. 

Despite the slowdown, however, U.S. housing prices remain significantly higher than they were a year ago. 

Month over month in September, existing-home sales slid 1.5% to 4.71 million, which is 23.8% lower than the year before. 

New home construction missed analyst estimates in September, falling 8.1% month over month to an annual rate 1,439,000 homes, according to government statistics. 

Looking ahead, CoreLogic expects the year-over-year pace of home-price appreciation to slow to 3.5% by August 2023.