Buyers are out There . . .

Housing demand is starting to cool, according to the Housing Demand Index (HDI) released by Redfin.

The Index dropped to 134 in October—a 1.7 percent decrease from 137 in September. Despite a dip in month-over-month demand, the Index increased 26.6 percent year-over-year in October.

Determining the data is based on thousands of Redfin customers requesting home tours and writing offers, with a level of 100 representing the historical average for the three-year period from January 2013 to December 2015.

Contributing to the HDI’s drop was a decline in tour requests for the month as the seasonally adjusted number of buyers requesting home tours remained flat from September to October, increasing by only 0.6 percent, while the number making offers fell 5.4 percent.

Compared to last year, 43.7 percent more buyers requested tours in October and 4.4 percent more wrote offers.

According to Redfin, the declines are likely a result of waning inventory, as October marked the 29th straight month of year-over-year inventory declines and the fourth consecutive month of double-digit declines.

“The fact that touring activity remained constant while offers dropped off in October tells us that the buyers are still there; there’s just not much to bid on,” said Nela Richardson, Chief Economist at Redfin.  

Among the 15 metro areas that the Index covers, there were 14.8 percent fewer homes for sale last month than there were a year prior. Although, new listings posted an increase for the first time in five months, up 2.6 percent in October.

“The small boost in the number of homes newly listed for sale is certainly the bright spot of this report,” Richardson added. "Additionally, the most serious buyers can rejoice that we are nearing the holidays, which bring less competition from other buyers for homes that sellers are often very eager to unload before the new year.”

To view the full report, click here.