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IRVINE, CA—More than half of major US markets are experiencing home price-appreciation deceleration, according to a report from RealtyTrac. In addition, the firm reports that REO and short sales are also on the decline nationwide.

As GlobeSt.com reported earlier this week, the median sales price of US single-family homes and condos in October was $193,000, up 2% from the previous month and up 16% from a year ago to the highest level since September 2008, a 73-month high, according to a report from RealtyTrac. In addition, investor share of single-family homes and condos nationally is also rising.

However, the rate at which prices are rising is slowing in most markets. Home-price appreciation slowed in October compared to a year ago in 52 of the 97 metro areas nationwide with a population of half a million or more and with sufficient home-price data, RealtyTrac says—that's 54%. Some of the fastest-appreciating markets in 2013 have seen substantial slowdowns in price appreciation this year, including Phoenix; Los Angeles; Oxnard-Thousand-Oaks-Ventura in Southern California; Jacksonville, FL; Boston; and San Diego.

Daren Blomquist, VP of RealtyTrac, tells GlobeSt.com, “The slowing home price appreciation is expected because affordability levels in the majority of markets have reached or even exceeded their historic norms. Given that interest rates are not likely to go much lower and lending standards are not likely to loosen up significantly, there is little room left for prices to rise faster than income growth going forward in these markets.”

Still, home-price appreciation did accelerate in 45 of the 97 metro areas RealtyTrac studied nationwide in October. Major metros with the fastest-accelerating appreciation included Cincinnati; Cleveland; Nashville; Charlotte, NC; and Columbus, OH. Other major markets with accelerating home-price appreciation were Chicago, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Tampa and Baltimore.

According to OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate, covering the Seattle market, “The continued rise in Seattle median home prices is largely a result of a strong local economy, low housing supply and high buyer demand.” The percentage of distressed home sales in Seattle has returned to pre-mortgage-crisis levels, with activity being driven by the hardships that have always instigated short sales, such as job loss, divorce, illness and job relocation. Most of the distressed properties have shifted into the outlying areas around Seattle and are selling for well under the median home price.

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