Wary buyers and sellers holding out for higher prices are causing a standoff in the San Antonio housing market. The city recently led the nation in canceled home purchases, with 22.7 percent of contracts falling through in July, according to Redfin. This translates to 730 canceled agreements during that month.
“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 San Antonio brokerage. “The buyers have all the leverage, but the sellers think they don’t.”
Nationally, over 15 percent of home purchases were canceled in July. Texas and Florida recorded the highest shares of deals that did not close.
Other cities with high cancellation rates included Fort Lauderdale at 21.3 percent and Jacksonville at 19.9 percent.
Florida and Texas continue to see strong homebuilding activity, with major builders like Lennar and D.R. Horton offering incentives to attract buyers. Some analysts suggest that these incentives may be leading more buyers to back out of existing home sales in favor of new builds.
San Antonio has an active homebuilding market but is not among the top cities in Texas for new construction. In May rankings, Houston was first for home construction markets statewide, Dallas second, and San Antonio eighth. Dallas-Fort Worth led major U.S. metros last month with 5,800 housing units authorized by permit, followed closely by Houston with 5,771 units; San Antonio ranked 22nd nationally with just over a thousand units issued according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Grant Lopez, president of Keller Williams San Antonio, noted that the city’s large military population could be contributing to the high rate of cancellations because Veterans Affairs loans are common among local buyers—a group more likely to withdraw from deals if their circumstances change.
With sellers losing much of their previous advantage, some potential buyers—especially active service members—are concerned about building 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 other Texas metros are more likely to attract wealthier buyers due to stronger job markets: “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.”
In addition to economic concerns affecting markets nationwide, some deals fall through over disagreements about repairs or financing issues—problems seen elsewhere such as Los Angeles and New York.
