- Roughly 56,000 U.S. home-purchase agreements were canceled in August, equal to 15.1% of homes that went under contract that month—the highest August percentage in records dating back to 2017.
- Buyers frequently back out of deals when they find issues during the inspection, they have trouble selling their existing home or their financing falls through, according to a survey of Redfin agents.
Homebuyers in America are getting cold feet.
“One of my buyers almost canceled a contract because she accidentally flushed her engagement ring down the toilet during the home inspection,” said Manny Bermudez, a Redfin real estate agent in Phoenix. “The seller came home and both parties searched for the ring for two hours. The buyers never found it and took their bad luck as a sign to back out of the deal.”
While Bermudez’s story has a happy ending—his buyers ended up moving forward with the purchase after the sellers agreed to a long list of concessions—many buyers these days are leaving sellers at the altar.
Roughly 56,000 U.S. home-purchase agreements were canceled in August, equal to 15.1% of homes that went under contract that month. That’s up from 14.3% a year earlier and marks the highest August rate in records dating back to 2017.