Dive Brief:

• House hunter traffic through homes for sale improved in four of the five largest U.S. housing markets in October, according to the latest Credit Suisse survey of real estate agents.

• Still, in No. 5 Phoenix, No. 4 Washington, DC, and No. 3 Atlanta, traffic improved only slightly, leaving activity in those markets far below expectations, the survey revealed.

• Traffic in No. 2 Dallas plummeted from “met expectations” to well “below expectations” in October, largely because rising home prices there have created a dearth of affordable housing.

Dive Insight:

Even in top-ranked Houston, where traffic improved substantially in October, it only slightly exceeded expectations. There are several problems at play here: Newly lowered mortgage rates can’t compete with rising home prices, there is a lack of buyer “urgency,” sellers are holding out for higher prices, and some local economies are still struggling. Buyers in some areas, unable or unwilling to pay current prices, are showing little confidence that their local economies—and their job security—is secure enough to warrant one of the biggest purchases of their lives.