You talk to sellers as though the risk ends the day you go under contract, so the celebration email goes out and the file goes quiet. July's cancellation rate was the highest in nearly three years, and in two large metros it was close to one in five.
A daily real estate news segment leads with the number: "14% of home purchase agreements fell through in July. That's the highest cancellation rate in nearly 3 years."
He lists what buyers are actually walking over: repair costs, low appraisals, or a monthly payment that stops working because of insurance, an HOA, or a rate that came in too high. In Atlanta and Houston, he says close to one in five deals collapse.
The context he gives is that there are about 51 percent more sellers than buyers, which he attributes to Redfin and notes has been disputed. His read is that buyers hold the leverage through fall and winter.
His advice to sellers is two things and they are both pre-listing, not post-offer: price it right, and get ahead of the inspection.
“14% of home purchase agreements fell through in July. That's the highest cancellation rate in nearly 3 years.”
Every one of those four reasons is knowable before you accept an offer. The roof, the panel and the HVAC are knowable with a pre-listing inspection. The appraisal risk is knowable from your own comps. The payment risk is knowable by asking the buyer's lender whether insurance and HOA dues were in the pre-approval, which they frequently were not.
Sellers do not need the market lecture, they need the number. A contract is not the finish line this fall, and the work that protects it happens before the sign goes in the ground, not after the offer arrives.