Sun Belt Cities Lead Nation in Canceled Home Purchase Agreements, Redfin Reports

Originally published on September 26, 2022, by Angela Cherry for Redfin.

Nationwide, roughly 64,000 home-purchase agreements fell through in August, equal to 15.2% of homes that went under contract that month. That’s up from 12.1% a year earlier and is comparable with July’s revised rate of 15.5%, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage.

The percentage has now hovered around 15% for the past three months—the highest level on record with the exception of March and April 2020, when the onset of the coronavirus pandemic brought the housing market to a near standstill. Before the pandemic, it was consistently around 12%. This is according to a Redfin analysis of MLS data going back through 2017.

Homebuyers were most likely to back out of deals in Sun Belt cities that surged in popularity and price during the pandemic, such as Phoenix, Tampa and Las Vegas. They were least likely to back out in pricey coastal hubs like San Francisco and New York, which went out of vogue during the pandemic but are now making a comeback as workers return to the office.

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