Housing Market Gripped by Historic Wave of Buyer Remorse

The housing market has been hit by a widespread case of cold feet, as homebuyers have been bailing on home purchases at a historic pace. According to a recent Redfin analysis, around 58,000 pending home purchases fell through in July 2025, representing 15.3% of all pending sales in the United States. This is the highest proportion of home-purchase cancellations seen in the month of July in at least eight years.

The cities hit hardest by this trend were San Antonio, Texas, where 22.7% of pending home contracts fell through, followed by Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 21.3%, and Jacksonville, Florida, at 19.9%. Experts attribute this surge in buyer remorse to the lower affordability in the market, with mortgage rates and home prices continuing to rise.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate held steady at around 6.58% in the last week, down from highs of 7% earlier this year but still far above the pandemic-era lows of around 3%. Meanwhile, the median existing US home price climbed to a fresh record of $435,300 in June. While the housing market is slowly leaning more in favor of buyers, with inventory rising and price growth slowing, the combination of higher costs appears to be sparking hesitation among some prospective homeowners.