- Home sales cancellations hit record 13.7% in February, the highest since 2017, according to Redfin.
- Economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, including the U.S.-Iran conflict, impact buyer confidence.
- Southern cities lead cancellations; Tampa, Florida, tops at 18%, while San Francisco is the lowest at 3.7%.
SALT LAKE CITY — Deals to buy homes in the U.S. recently fell through at a record rate, a new analysis found.
More than 42,000 purchase agreements were canceled around the country in February, equal to 13.7% of the homes that went under contract that month, up from a 12.8% share in February 2025, according to the online brokerage Redfin.
It's the highest share ever for February in records kept since 2017.
Redfin credits what's a buyers market in much of the country for the big numbers, but also said the nation's house hunters are "feeling jittery because of economic and geopolitical uncertainty."
Shortly before the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran at the end of February, mortgage rates had dropped below 6% for the first time since 2022. But the ongoing conflict has spurred fears of inflation and driven rates up quickly.
The South is seeing the biggest share of cancellations for February, with Tampa topping the list at 18%, followed by San Antonio, Texas, and Atlanta, both at 17.9%, Jacksonville, Florida, at 17.5% and Fort Worth, Texas, at 17.3%.
"Homes are falling out of contract left and right," an Orlando-based real estate agent, Juan Castro, is quoted as saying in a Redfin post. "Sometimes buyers make an offer but never send the deposit because they get nervous."
Castro said buyers also change their minds after "they revisit numbers with lenders and don't feel comfortable with the monthly payments, and other times they use a minor inspection issue as an excuse to back out."
Daryl Fairweather, Redfin's chief economist, posted on social media about the analysis, saying, "The takeaway for sellers: A signed contract is not a done deal. The deals that close are the ones where sellers price realistically and stay flexible. Buyers have options, and they know it."
The share of canceled deals in San Francisco was at just 3.7% in February, the lowest among the 50 most populous metropolitan areas. Also low were Nassau County, New York, at 4.5%; San Jose, California, at 5.4%; Milwaukee, at 7.5%; and Oakland, California, at 7.7%.
The data used in the analysis, which Redfin notes may include home purchase agreements canceled in February that went under contract in a previous month, does not include numbers for Utah and other smaller markets.
