For three years, U.S. home-sale prices rose from a year earlier every single month, even as mortgage rates climbed and would-be buyers pulled back. That streak has ended. 

The median home-sale price declined 0.4% year over year to $388,634 in October. That’s  the first decline since May 2023 and a sharp slowdown from the 2.5% gain just two months earlier. With Americans’ wages growing about 4% year over year, even a slight dip in prices can improve affordability. Sale prices have risen nearly every single month for the last 13 years; the only exception was a handful of months in 2023.