Home prices have been growing at double-digit year-over-year rates for 48 consecutive weeks, but that growth has been waning.

Home price growth reared its ugly head in the week ending Nov. 26, with prices 12.2 percent higher than the same week a year ago. (In the previous week, growth was just 11 percent).

Typical asking price growth for homes picked up for the first time in seven weeks from the previous week, which may be an anomaly.

Home price growth could return to single-digit territory before the end of the year, and we could still see this trend materialize before the end of the year.

But this week's data is a signal that we may not see single-digit home price growth until the new year.

The housing market has been red-hot for the past few years, but mortgage rates have been rising recently, nearly doubling in the past year and spiking to a 20-year high at the end of October at 7.08% for 30-year fixed-rate loans.

Since then, however, 30-year fixed rates have trended down for the third week in a row, averaging 6.49 percent for the week ending Dec. 1, according to Freddie Mac data.

This increase in affordability has not been enough to attract more existing homebuyers.

Moreover, even if rates fall, they could rise again, an unpredictability that makes planning a challenge.

This has prompted many homebuyers to sit on the sidelines and wait for conditions to stabilize.

The number of homes homebuyers needing to browse continues to increase, up an astounding 53% from a year ago for the week ending Nov. 26.

However, many homebuyers will find that the pool just contains the same stale listings.

Of course, many sellers were on vacation last week and likely did not consider listing their homes over the long holiday weekend.

However, the problem with the rise in active listings runs deeper than that.

New listings also plummeted 17 percent for the week ending Nov. 26 compared to last year. This latest decline is a grim milestone for buyers.

This is the 21st consecutive week of year-over-year declines in listings by homeowners.

While conditions remain favorable for sellers, with prices high and homes still selling relatively quickly, pressure on buyer affordability is squeezing sellers' confidence.

Some are looking for new construction to find the types of home features missing from the dusty listings page.

A typical property spent an extra week on the market in the week ending Nov. 26.

This marks the 18th consecutive week a home has stayed on the market compared to last year. (In November, the average number of days a home was on the market was 56 days).

Homes lingering on the market means homebuyers have an advantage - although in general, homes are selling faster than they did before 2019.

But in general, buyers are closer to the driver's seat of the housing market than ever before.

As a result, sellers looking to close before the end of the year should take a closer look at their local markets before overpricing their homes.

While the housing market is generally cooling off, homes are selling faster in the lower-priced markets of the Northeast and Midwest than in other areas.