Nationally, home purchase cancellations dipped to start the year. In February, the share of failed home sales was 7.2%, down from 7.4% a year ago and lower than January’s 7.6%, signaling stability, according to the latest Realtor.com® monthly housing market trends report. Historically, cancellations spiked at 10.5% in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, then fell to an unusually low 5.4% in May 2021 as home buying reached a fevered pitch. This Realtor.com article goes into specific markets in the 50 largest U.S. metros areas which stand out. The top five include: New York City which leads with a national low of just 2.7% of deals falling through, followed by Buffalo, NY (2.9%), Raleigh, NC (3.4%), San Jose, CA (3.4%), and San Francisco (3.6%).
Deals often go sideways when financing can't be obtained. The article also goes into reasons some of these areas have the lowest cancellation rate which included high income earners (financing is easier!) and non-refundable deposits (I am looking at you New York City!)
According to Redfin, the most recent data (for December 2025) shows approximately 15.2% of pending home purchase contracts in San Diego County were cancelled. According to the same Redfin source, this was up from 13% the prior December. Because we have strong inventory buyers can be more particular and walk away if something doesn't go their way.
