Philly Area Housing Market Sees A Surprising Shift In Buyer Behavior – Patch

Philly Area Housing Market Sees A Surprising Shift In Buyer Behavior  Patch

The housing market continues to struggle as the number of canceled deals spikes. Homebuyers in the greater Philadelphia area are walking away from home purchase agreements as the U.S. housing market struggles with rising mortgage rates, high home prices, and weakening demand, according to a new report from real estate brokerage Redfin. In the Philly metro area, 12.4 percent of homebuying contracts were canceled in September, compared with 14.5 percent nationally, according to Redfin's housing market report released Monday. Nationwide, canceled deals are part of a broader housing slowdown. Pending home sales fell about 4 percent from August to September, and the number of houses on the market is higher than at any point since the pandemic.

The high housing inventory gives buyers an advantage, but with mortgage rates that have inched to 7.28 percent, the highest level in three years, “fewer people buy because fewer people can afford them,” Chen Zhao, Redfin’s head of economic research, said in the report. In the greater Philadelphia metro area, pending home sales fell 11.7 percent in September compared with a year earlier, according to Redfin. Nationally, annual home price growth slowed to just 1.3 percent, and about three in five homes sold for less than their original asking price. Nearly one in five sellers with active listings cut their asking prices, with