Boston area’s heated housing market is cooling

Greater Boston is still a tough — and expensive — place to buy a house, but the years of prices galloping relentlessly upward may be nearing an end. Data released Wednesday indicate that home prices in the region showed signs of leveling off in October, after a long run-up, with the volume of sales slowing even as the number of properties on the market increased. The figures help to reinforce a trend in the making for several months, amid rising interest rates and record-high asking prices throughout much of the region. While there’s no sign that prices will fall any time soon, the days of manic bidding wars and lightning-quick deals may be over, or nearly so. “We’ve seen a steady softening of sales since Labor Day,” said Marie Presti, a Newton real estate agent and president of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors. “The good news for home buyers is there is less competition when making an offer, more time to shop for homes, and more opportunity to get into a property following a recent influx of new listings coming onto the market.”