A standoff between buyers and sellers is making it difficult to close home sales in San Antonio, which recently led the nation in canceled home purchases. According to Redfin, more than 15 percent of home purchases across the country were canceled in July, with Texas and Florida experiencing the highest rates of failed deals.
San Antonio saw 730 canceled agreements last month, accounting for 22.7 percent of contracts. Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville followed with cancellation rates of 21.3 percent and 19.9 percent, respectively.
“Sellers are stuck in 2021, and buyers want a hell of a deal. There’s a lot of that mindset still around here,” said Clint Neal, co-founder of Neal and Neal, a leading brokerage in San Antonio. “The buyers have all the leverage, but the sellers think they don’t.”
Florida and Texas continue to see strong homebuilding activity as companies like Lennar and D.R. Horton offer incentives to attract buyers. This may be prompting some buyers to back out of existing home purchases in favor of new builds with added benefits.
Despite its active building market, San Antonio ranks behind other major Texas cities for new construction activity. In May rankings for home construction markets, Houston was first and Dallas second statewide; San Antonio placed eighth overall. Last month, Dallas-Fort Worth authorized about 5,800 housing units while Houston approved roughly 5,771 units according to U.S. Census Bureau data; San Antonio ranked 22nd nationally with just over one thousand units.
San Antonio’s high military population could also be influencing cancellation trends since many local buyers use Veterans Affairs loans—a group known for higher cancellation rates according to Redfin.
Grant Lopez, president of Keller Williams San Antonio, noted that changing market conditions make it riskier for buyers—especially service members—to build equity during short periods of ownership: “First-time buyers who don’t plan to stay in San Antonio for more than a couple of years increasingly doubt the value of buying rather than renting,” Lopez said.
Lopez also suggested that wealthier buyers tend to gravitate toward other Texas metros: “We’re not the sexy market of Austin and Houston and Dallas,” he said. “We don’t have many of the super high-paying jobs; Dallas has a stronger employee market.”
Deal cancellations can occur when parties cannot agree on repairs or when financing falls through—scenarios common nationwide including cities like Los Angeles and New York.
