Halloween is just about a week away, but spooky season started early for the U.S. housing market.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In September, more than 53,000 home-purchase agreements were canceled\u2014or 15% of all homes under contract, according to Redfin data<\/a> released Wednesday. That\u2019s nearly a 14% jump from the same time last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The housing markets with the highest percentage of pending sales that fell out of contract include:\u00a0<\/p>\n Buyers are ghosting sellers because\u2014considering high home prices and mortgage rates\u2014they expect homes to be near-perfect to follow through on a contract, according to Redfin. Plus, Jo Chavez<\/a>, a Redfin Premier agent in Kansas City, Mo., said in a statement he\u2019s seeing \u201ca lot of buyer\u2019s remorse.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBuyers make an offer, then they start worrying they could have found a better deal or a better home because there are more home sellers than buyers in the market,\u201d Chavez said. \u201cSome other buyers are backing out because they\u2019re concerned about job security<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Americans are so worried about the economy, in fact, a recent Fannie Mae<\/a> survey showed a whopping 73% of them said it\u2019s a bad time to buy a house<\/a>. Meanwhile, only 32% of consumers said they expect their personal finances to improve during the next year, and 23% said they think things will get worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n But aside from overall economic anxiety, buyers and sellers are failing to agree on concessions and repairs, according to Redfin. That\u2019s a major shift from the pandemic-era housing market in which many buyers chose to forgo concessions and repairs in hopes of presenting a more favorable offer in a highly competitive housing market. That dynamic has flipped though, with the housing market showing signs its turning in favor of buyers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor prospective buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines, the housing market is finally starting to listen,\u201d wrote chief economist Mark Fleming in an Aug. 29 First American post<\/a>. That\u2019s due to home price growth that is mostly flat or slightly declining because of decreasing demand and increasing supply, according to the National Association of Home Builders.\u00a0<\/p>\n Redfin also says it\u2019s a buyer\u2019s market in most of the U.S.\u2014and that\u2019s why so many transaction cancellations are happening.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThose who are still in the market know they have leverage,\u201d according to Redfin. \u201cIt\u2019s common to be choosier and ask for repairs, price reductions and other concessions. When sellers push back, or when inspections reveal new issues, many buyers are walking away.\u201d Climate risks in the Sunbelt region have also discouraged some buyers from following through on contracts, according to Redfin.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some sellers are delisting homes<\/p>\n While many buyers are pulling out of home purchase agreements, some sellers are also pulling their homes off the market.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a clear signal that buyers are holding more of the power right now, especially with inventory climbing<\/a> and [mortgage] rates staying elevated,\u201d Anthony Djon, founder of Anthony Djon Luxury Real Estate<\/a> in Detroit, previously told<\/a>Fortune.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n