Market Update · August 21, 2026 · 8 min read
Fourteen percent of home purchase agreements fell through in July.
That's the highest cancellation rate since November 2023, according to Redfin's latest data. And if you're shopping for a home in Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania, or Delaware right now, you need to understand what's driving it—because it changes your strategy.
Short version: Buyers have options again. When inventory climbs and sellers can't command bidding wars, buyers get picky. They walk if the inspection is ugly or the appraisal comes in low or they simply change their mind. Twenty years ago, when I was still teaching high-schoolers how to write a five-paragraph essay, we called that leverage. Today, it's called a buyer's market, and it's creeping back into our corner of the Mid-Atlantic.
Redfin's analysis points to a few culprits. More inventory. Fewer competing offers. Economic jitters that make a $450,000 commitment feel less like excitement and more like a stomach ache at 2 a.m.
Here's what I'm seeing on the ground in Harford, Cecil, Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel: Buyers aren't just walking away because they can. They're walking because they should. The due-diligence period exists for a reason. When you're not elbowing six other bidders out of the way, you have time to breathe, ask the hard questions, and actually read the home inspection instead of skimming it in a Panera parking lot fifteen minutes before your attorney needs an answer.
One of my recent buyers in Harford County canceled during inspection. The sellers had disclosed prior water intrusion, but the mold remediation paperwork didn't match the timeline they'd given us. My buyer could have pushed through—three months ago, she probably would have, because inventory was tighter. But in late July, she had four other showings lined up that weekend. She walked, we regrouped, and she's now under contract on a better house with sellers who answer questions on the first ask.
That's the shift. It's not chaos. It's a market remembering how to behave like a market.
Let's not pretend rates are doing us any favors. Freddie Mac's latest survey pegs the 30-year fixed at 6.65% as of August 20. That's a tick lower than the prior week, but we're still hovering near the highest levels in over a year.
When rates were in the low sixes earlier this spring, I had buyers stretching to make offers work. Now, at 6.65%, the same monthly payment buys them less house—or they're backing out when the numbers stop penciling after they sober up from offer night.
Redfin also noted that new listings climbed 1.2% week-over-week in mid-August, the fifth straight week of gains. More supply plus higher rates equals more buyer hesitation. And hesitation leads to cancellations when something in the deal doesn't feel right.
If you want the nuance on how rates and inventory are squeezing sellers right now, I wrote about that dynamic earlier this week.
Redfin's data shows cancellations are most prevalent in buyer-friendly southern markets—places drowning in new construction and transplants who got cold feet. But Maryland isn't the Sun Belt. We don't have the same glut of new builds sitting on spec.
That said, the psychology is migrating north. I've had three listings in the past month where buyers initially came in strong, then started nickeling-and-diming repairs during inspection, then ghosted their own agent for four days, and finally canceled two days before settlement. It's not malicious. It's caution in a world where economic headlines toggle between "soft landing" and "oil shock" every other Tuesday.
One thing I tell my seller clients: If a buyer cancels during their due-diligence window, it stings, but it's not personal and it's not necessarily a red flag about your property. Sometimes people just aren't ready. Sometimes their lender re-ran numbers and the debt-to-income ratio doesn't work anymore. Sometimes they drove by at night and realized the street has no sidewalks and they have a kindergartener.
The key is to price right from day one, so you're attracting serious buyers—not tourists with shaky pre-approvals.
You have more room to be honest with yourself. If the home inspection reveals a 22-year-old HVAC system and the sellers won't credit you a dime, you can walk. If the appraisal comes in $15K low and the seller shrugs, you can walk. If your gut says the neighborhood isn't the right fit after you've spent three evenings sitting in the driveway watching traffic patterns, you can walk.
I'm not encouraging flakiness. Contracts are legal commitments, and you signed them for a reason. But the due-diligence and financing contingencies exist to protect you from making a quarter-million-dollar mistake. Use them.
A few tactical tips:
Don't wait until you're under contract to nail down your loan. Rates are jumpy, and if you're relying on a border-case debt-to-income ratio, you want to know before you fall in love with a house that your lender is going to balk three days before closing. I wrote a whole piece on rate buydowns and options your lender might not mention that's worth reading if you're financing in the upper ranges of your budget.
In a market where buyers have more leverage, you'd think we could relax. Nope. The good inspectors are still booked two weeks out. If your contract gives you ten days for due diligence and the inspection doesn't happen until day eight, you're making a decision on incomplete information under time pressure. That's when people panic and cancel.
Before you submit an offer, sit down with your agent and your lender and figure out the dollar amount where you say "no thanks" if the appraisal or inspection reveals a problem. If the HVAC needs replacing and that's a $10K ask, are you prepared to cover it? If not, and the seller won't budge, know that now—not at 9 p.m. on a Sunday when your contract expires at midnight.
Don't panic. A 14% national cancellation rate doesn't mean 14% of your contracts will fall apart, especially if you're working with an experienced Maryland realtor who pre-qualifies buyers and sniffs out the looky-loos before you accept an offer.
But do take it seriously. Price your home right. Not aspirationally, not "let's see what happens," but right—based on recent closed sales (not active listings) in your neighborhood. Make the repairs that matter. If your home inspector told you two years ago that the grading around your foundation was iffy, fix it before you list. Don't make it the buyer's problem, because in this market, they'll just walk and buy the house three streets over that doesn't have a drainage question mark.
Be responsive. I've seen deals fall apart because a seller took four days to answer a simple question about the age of the roof. Silence breeds anxiety, and anxious buyers cancel.
And if a contract does fall through, don't spiral. Get the house back on the market fast, adjust if needed, and move on. Buyers are still out there. They're just reading the fine print now.
One other data point worth noting: Builder sentiment ticked up slightly in August, but it's still sideways in the big picture, according to Mortgage News Daily's coverage of the latest NAHB index. Elevated mortgage rates, rising construction costs, and broad economic uncertainty are keeping new-home construction muted.
That means the supply boost we're seeing in resale inventory isn't being matched by a flood of new builds—at least not in Maryland's established counties. In places like Howard and Montgomery, where land is tight and zoning is a cage match, new construction just can't pencil. So if you're waiting for a wave of new homes to crash prices, you'll be waiting a while.
The inventory we do have is older stock, and older stock comes with older systems. Which circles back to why inspections matter and why buyers are walking when they find problems.
According to Redfin's analysis of seasonal trends, mid-September is the prime deal-making window for buyers in Baltimore. If you're on the fence about whether to buy this year, that's only a few weeks away. Sellers who've been sitting since June are getting antsy. Kids are back in school, open-house traffic drops, and the psychological pressure to close a deal before the holidays creeps in.
I'm not saying you'll get a steal. But I am saying that a patient, well-prepared buyer in mid-September has more leverage than that same buyer had in May.
If you're thinking about making a move—or if you've been sitting on the fence about selling your house in Harford County, Cecil, Baltimore, or anywhere else I'm licensed—now's the time to have a real conversation about what the data means for your situation, not just the national headlines.
Reach out. Let's talk through the numbers, the nerves, and the next steps. Because in a market where 14% of people are walking away, the ones who stay in the game with clear eyes and good information are the ones who win.
Katrina Kirton Sherrod, REALTOR® · Samson Properties · Licensed in MD, DC, PA & DE · 443-616-9770 · Katrina@kkstherealtor.com
“Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. It is about the safest investment in the world.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt (paraphrased)