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  1. Housing
  2. Housing Market

10 Cities Where Homes Sales Are Most Likely to Collapse

By: Sarah Hansen
Sarah Hansen, expert in Personal finance, investing, saving, retirement, budgeting, taxes, and Senior Writer at Money
Sarah Hansen
Senior Writer | Joined October 2021
Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. Previously, she covered economic policy and capital markets on the breaking news desk at Forbes.
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Editor: Brad Tuttle
Brad Tuttle, expert in Personal finance, shopping, consumer trends, and Senior Editor at Money
Brad Tuttle
Senior Editor | Joined January 2014
Brad Tuttle is a senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.
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Published: Sep 27, 2022 3 min read
House in Ft Lauderdale FL
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Getty Images

More and more potential homebuyers are backing out of purchases, especially in some of the pandemic’s hottest housing markets.

A little more than 15% of pending home sales (or 64,000 total purchases) fell out of contract in August, according to a new analysis from the real estate brokerage Redfin. In July, 15.5% of pending sales fell out of contact. That was the highest level since 2017, with the exception of two months at the very beginning of the pandemic.

Redfin attributes the sustained uptick in homebuyers backing out of deals to the rapidly cooling housing market. It's not merely about buyers getting cold feet: Less competition, lower prices and more inventory have allowed homebuyers to be more discerning.