16.2% of Fort Worth Contracts Fell Through in March — What Spring Buyers Need to Know

Nationally, 1 in 7 home-purchase contracts that went under contract in March never made it to closing. In Fort Worth, that number was 16.2%. If you're shopping right now, that's not a reason to panic — but it is a number worth understanding before you write an offer.

The National Picture

Redfin's March 2026 data shows 13.4% of all home-purchase agreements were canceled before closing — tied with 2023 for the highest March cancellation share on record outside of 2020, when the pandemic froze everything. The year-prior rate was 12.5%. The trend is moving the wrong direction nationally.

The reasons Redfin identified are consistent with what agents are hearing on the ground: layoffs, elevated mortgage rates, high home prices, and geopolitical uncertainty are causing buyers to hesitate — or bail — after they're already under contract.

Patricia Ammann, a Redfin agent in Arlington, VA, put it plainly: "Buyers are getting cold feet. There have been layoffs, ups and downs in the market, and geopolitical turmoil — and on top of all that, housing costs are still high."

The Fort Worth-Specific Read

Here's what the headline doesn't tell you: Fort Worth's cancellation rate is actually falling. A year ago it was 17.1%. March 2026 came in at 16.2% — nearly a full percentage point better. That improvement isn't dramatic, but it's directionally meaningful. Fort Worth buyers are slightly more committed than they were twelve months ago.

That said, 16.2% is still elevated. For context, the Texas metros with lower cancellation rates — Austin at 12.5%, Dallas at 14.4% — tend to have either more inventory (giving buyers less pressure to overcommit) or faster-moving markets where buyers do more due diligence before going under contract. Fort Worth sits in a middle band: enough inventory to shop, enough uncertainty to hesitate.

Why Buyers Are Walking — And When It's the Right Call

Not every cancellation is a buyer making a mistake. Some of them are the right decision. If the inspection surfaces something the seller won't address, if the appraisal comes in short and the math doesn't work, if financing falls through on a deal that was always a stretch — those are not cold feet. Those are the system working as intended.

The cancellations worth worrying about are the ones driven by noise: a bad news cycle, a friend's horror story, general anxiety about the economy. Those are real feelings, but they're not data — and they don't tell you anything specific about the house you're walking away from.

The question to ask before walking isn't "am I nervous?" It's "what specifically changed between when I made this offer and right now?"

What This Means If You're Shopping This Spring

A 16.2% cancellation rate means more contracts are failing — and some of those properties are coming back to market. If you missed a house earlier this spring because it went under contract fast, check back. Properties that fell out of contract often return with more motivated sellers who've already been through one deal falling apart.

It also means your competition may be softer than it looks. If 1 in 6 buyers under contract is walking away, some of the urgency that pushed prices up in the last cycle has bled off. You're not necessarily competing against 10 offers anymore.

• Get pre-approved before you offer — not pre-qualified. A solid commitment letter keeps your deal alive when other buyers get cold feet and sellers start vetting who's actually serious
• Do your due diligence before going under contract, not after — know what you're buying before you feel the psychological pressure of having a deal in place
• If you're emotionally attached to a house before you've seen the inspection, that's worth noticing — attachment isn't a reason to ignore data

The Straight Answer on March Data

Yes, this data is from March. It's now May. But Redfin published this April 22 — a week ago — and the conditions driving these cancellations haven't changed. Mortgage rates are still elevated. Economic uncertainty is still in the news. Spring selling season is underway. The March number is the most recent full-month picture we have of what buyers in this market are actually doing, and it's directly relevant to what you're walking into right now.

Data follows behavior. Behavior reflects conditions. The conditions are live.

Source: Redfin, More Than 50,000 Home-Purchase Contracts Fell Through in March, published April 22, 2026. Fort Worth data from a 43-metro analysis.