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After months of huge gains in Houston-area home sales, there are signs that the buying frenzy may be slowing, the Houston Association of Realtors said Tuesday.

The group reported November home sales to be up 3.3 percent compared to a year earlier. That’s the smallest one-month sales increase since June 2011 and the lowest one-month sales volume since February of this year. Buyers closed on 5,108 single-family homes in November.

The association’s chairman said the lower figures don’t surprise him.

“There simply isn’t a plentiful supply of available homes out there,” Danny Frank said in a statement. “We are also in the midst of the holidays when, traditionally, home sales ease as consumers focus on their families and gift-giving. In addition, there has been an uptick in mortgage interest rates, which may have convinced prospective buyers to postpone home purchases until the new year.”

The supply of homes fell to an all-time low of 2.9 months compared to 4.1 months a year earlier. The inventory figures, which measure the time it would take to sell all the homes on the market based on recent activity, has been dwindling throughout the year as more homes were buying purchased than listed for sale.

The lower supply led to higher prices, too. The median price of a single-family home — the figure at which half the homes sold for more and half for less — rose 8.7 percent to $181,000, according to the report, which tracks homes sold through the Multiple Listing Service in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, as well as parts of Brazoria, Galveston, Waller and Wharton counties.

In another sign that activity is tapering, month-end pending sales totaled 3,273, a 0.2 percent gain over last year. Active listings, or the number of available properties, at the end of November dropped 17 percent to 30,341.

For the past several months, all but the under-$80,000 segment of the single-family market have experienced sales growth, the association said. November, however, saw sales fall in both the sub-$80,000 market and the $80,000-$150,000 market, and a slowing rate of closings in the $150,000-$500,000 range.

Here is November’s sales performance broken out by housing segment:

• $1 – $79,999: decreased 31.7 percent
• $80,000 – $149,999: decreased 5.5 percent
• $150,000 – $249,999: increased 10.7 percent
• $250,000 – $499,999: increased 17.5 percent
• $500,000 – $1 million and above: increased 22.6 percent

Other highlights from the report included:

• November sales of townhouses and condominiums were up 14.8 percent from a year earlier. The median price was up 6.2 percent to $143,350, as inventory fell to a 2.8-month supply.
• Single-family home rentals rose 7.7 percent last month, while townhouse/condominium rentals were flat. Average rents were down from their summertime record highs, although they were up year-over-year. The average rent for a single-family home increased 4.8 percent to $1,591, while the average rent for a townhouse/condominium increased 5.1 percent to $1,466.