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Deals are falling through in the housing world. Roughly 56,000 home purchase agreements were called off last month, which translates to almost 15% of homes under contract at the time, \u201cthe highest percentage of any June on record,\u201d according to<\/a> Redfin.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHouse hunters are having trouble committing because buying a home is more expensive than ever,\u201d an analysis from Redfin published today read. It pointed to the median home sale price, which rose 4% from a year earlier to $442,525 in June, and the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, which was 6.92%.<\/p>\n Sellers even cut their prices, but it didn\u2019t seem to be enough. About one in five homes for sale last month had a price reduction, the highest amount of any June on record. It was up more than 14% from a year ago and barely below a record set in October two years ago. \u201cSome sellers are reducing their prices because their homes are sitting on the market and getting stale\u2014the result of an ongoing affordability crisis impacting buyers,\u201d Redfin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Homes sold in June typically spent 32 days on the market, three days longer than last year. The total number of homes for sale was close to 13% higher than a year ago, which happens to be the biggest annual increase on record. And yet, home sales were depressed. By Redfin\u2019s count, home sales fell in June: 0.5% from a month before and 1.1% from a year ago; they were 21.5% below pre-pandemic numbers. It seems to be more of the same<\/a>\u2014inventory is improving, but demand is down, so homes are staying on the market longer, and sales are static.<\/p>\n \u201cSales are sluggish because many Americans can\u2019t afford to buy homes, and because while mortgage rates ticked down in June (and have fallen further this month), some buyers are waiting on the sidelines in hopes that they\u2019ll drop even more,\u201d Redfin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Existing home sales in June fell 5.4% on a monthly and annual basis, according to<\/a> the National Association of Realtors.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a slow shift from a seller\u2019s market to a buyer\u2019s market,\u201d NAR\u2019s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said in a release today. \u201cHomes are sitting on the market a bit longer, and sellers are receiving fewer offers. More buyers are insisting on home inspections and appraisals, and inventory is definitively rising on a national basis.\u201d<\/p>\n Redfin\u2019s analysis echoed that finding, citing a San Francisco-based real estate agent who said: \u201cBuyers are getting more and more selective\u2026They\u2019re backing out due to minor issues because the monthly costs associated with buying a home today are just too high to rationalize not getting everything on their must-have list.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, according to NAR, the median existing-home sales price escalated to $426,900; it was the second straight month the price reached an all-time high and the twelfth consecutive month of yearly price gains. It\u2019s slightly lower than Redfin\u2019s estimate, but costly nonetheless, particularly when you couple it with mortgage rates<\/a> that are still more than double their pandemic era lows.\u00a0<\/p>\n And it seems there are places where buyers are backpedaling more than others, starting with three metropolitan areas in Florida. In Orlando, about 900 purchase agreements were canceled, close to 21% of homes under contract in June. In Jacksonville and Tampa, 20.5% of homes under contract the same month fell through. <\/p>\n Florida\u2019s situation is unique, however. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing nightmare scenarios where deals are getting canceled at the last minute for the most minute reasons,\u201d said a Redfin agent in Miami, where roughly 2,500 home purchases\u2014more than 17% of homes under contract\u2014 were canceled in June.<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cBuyers often back out during the inspection period because they find something they don\u2019t like, but affordability is really the underlying issue. I don\u2019t want my buyers to be surprised by all of the expenses that come with owning a home in Florida, so I advise them to proactively research the hefty costs of insurance, property taxes and [homeowners association] fees, in addition to the cost of their mortgage payment.\u201d<\/p>\n Separately, another Redfin analysis from early June found housing markets in western Florida were cooling faster than anywhere else<\/a> in the country for a few reasons: the increasing severity of natural disasters, plenty of new construction, and fading demand after a pandemic-era boom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nRecommended Newsletter: <\/strong>CEO Daily provides key context for the news leaders need to know from across the world of business. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for insights about\u2013and from inside\u2013the C-suite. Subscribe Now<\/a>.<\/div>\n