Realtors are facing an increasing number of indecisive buyers as the real estate market becomes more challenging.
According to a report released by Redfin, nearly 56,000 home-purchase agreements were abandoned in June, accounting for 15% of all homes that went under contract that month. This marks the highest percentage for any June recorded by the real estate platform.
Julie Zubiate, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in the San Francisco Bay Area, attributes this trend to buyers becoming more critical due to the high costs associated with purchasing a home. She noted that buyers are withdrawing from deals over minor issues because the monthly costs of homeownership are too significant to overlook.
Rafael Corrales, another Redfin agent based in Miami, described “nightmare scenarios” where purchases are canceled at the last minute due to trivial details. In Miami alone, approximately 2,500 home sales were canceled last month, which represents about 17.6% of homes that went under contract in June. Corrales emphasized that the predominant issue is the affordability of homes.
The median home sale price hit a record high of $442,525 in June, while the average rate for a 30-year mortgage reached 6.92%. Prospective buyers are further burdened by rising insurance, property taxes, and homeowners’ association fees, along with other homeownership costs that have been impacted by inflation.
This growing unaffordability has led to a significant drop in home sales across the nation, according to Redfin. Monthly home sales fell by 0.5% in June, marking the largest decline since October 2023. Compared to the previous year, home sales declined by 1.1%, and they remain 21.5% below pre-pandemic levels.