February 16, 2026 | Mark Luis Foster
We had someone in our HOA here in the south metro experience the dreaded “ghosting” of a home sale. His townhome went up for sale early last year, and after months on the market, he finally got an offer. It cleared inspection and then suddenly, poof, the buying couple found a better deal and they walked away. Such is the life of the current homeowner who becomes a seller these days.
It turns out this is happening a lot, where buyers are snapping up inventory with an offer only to back out of the deal and move onto something else when they find a better sale price. And there are five US markets where it’s really a problem. From Realtor.com:
The largest percentage of buyers backing out of homes under contract are in Atlanta (10.3%), Las Vegas(10.1%), San Antonio, TX (9.6%), Riverside, CA (9.3%), and Phoenix (9.2%).
The last time there was a dramatic surge with deals falling through was in March 2020, when the housing market was hit by the effects of the pandemic, says Realtor.com.
The real estate market is working through its slow period, with the holidays slowing sales to a crawl. Poor weather conditions, high interest rates and other uncertainties are still hanging over our heads, creating angst that no seller wants to face. With buyers clearly in the driver’s seat and inventory being relatively plentiful, the act-now, buy-now adage of home purchasing is no longer the rule of thumb it used to be, at least not in this current market.
“With buyers having more options and many sellers reducing their price, a higher number of buyers are terminating an agreement when they find a more attractive purchase during their due diligence” says Bruce Ailion, a real estate professional and attorney.
Of course it’s not all price related. Some buyers find concerns during inspection and can’t come to an agreement on contingencies or repairs that are needed prior to sale. For now at least, the market continues to be in the control of home buyers everywhere.
You can read the whole article HERE.
