The series premiere of ABC’s real estate comedy “Hot Properties” on Friday was down from its year-ago time period performance in the adults 18 to 49 demographic, but built on its “Hope & Faith” lead-in to become the highest-rated comedy for the night.

At 9:30 p.m. (ET) “Properties” scored a 2.2 preliminary national rating in the demo, according to Nielsen Media Research. That was down 19 percent from the premiere of “Less Than Perfect” in the time period last season, but up 16 percent from the 9 p.m. “Hope & Faith” (1.9).

The top-rated show for the night was CBS’s “Numb3rs” at 10 p.m., which scored a 3.2 in the demo, followed by its time period competitor “20/20” (3.0) on ABC and CBS’s new 8 p.m. drama “Ghost Whisperer” (2.8).

A repeat of NBC’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” at 10 p.m. scored a 2.3 in adults 18 to 49, a 53 percent increase over last week’s “Inconceivable,” which has since been canceled.