{"id":40702,"date":"2024-02-09T09:57:07","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T17:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=40702"},"modified":"2026-04-06T01:10:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T08:10:42","slug":"how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/","title":{"rendered":"How Often Do Pending Offers Fall Through When Selling a Home?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Selling your home can be an exciting time of hopeful anticipation \u2014 or a season of dreaded anxiety. You can experience both when waiting for a pending offer to pan out, causing you to wonder, \u201cHow often do pending offers fall through?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In this post, We\u2019ll provide insights into the realities and risks that come with pending offers. We\u2019ll also share expert tips from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-top-agent-insights-for-end-of-year-2023\/\">recent HomeLight survey<\/a> of over 1,000 top real estate agents. You\u2019ll learn:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The likelihood that your pending sale will fall through<\/li>\n<li>Top reasons an offer goes sour (so you can anticipate and avoid them)<\/li>\n<li>11 things that frighten buyers the most<\/li>\n<li>What to do if your deal falls through<\/li>\n<li>Buyer red flags to watch for<\/li>\n<li>How to get your home sale to the finish line<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Connect with a Top Agent to Sail Through to Closing<\/h3>\n                        <p>Working with a top agent can help you get to closing day faster \u2014 and get you more for your home sale. We analyze over 27 million transactions and thousands of reviews to determine which agent is best for you based on your needs.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/find-agent\/quiz\/seller?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Get Started<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"How often do pending offers fall through?\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>How often do pending offers fall through?<\/h2>\n<p>According to data compiled by the National Association of Realtors (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nar.realtor\/research-and-statistics\/housing-statistics\">NAR<\/a>), it&#8217;s estimated that about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nar.realtor\/research-and-statistics\/research-reports\/realtors-confidence-index\">5% of pending offers fall through<\/a>. For perspective, NAR reports that about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nar.realtor\/research-and-statistics\/research-reports\/remodeling-impact-report-outdoor-features\">4.71 million<\/a> homes were sold in the U.S. in 2023. Based on NAR\u2019s estimate, that means roughly 247,500 home sales fell through in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that 95% of pending home sales carry through to closing.<\/p>\n<p>Given the dynamic nature of the real estate market, factors such as economic shifts, lending standards, and local market health can influence this statistic. The cancellation rate can also vary significantly based on location, regional market conditions, and even home values.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Discover how often pending offers fall through when selling a home and why. Learn what you can do to help your home sale make it to closing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":40709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[322,702],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-logistics","category-offers-negotiations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Often Do Pending Offers Fall Through When Selling a Home?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover how often pending offers fall through when selling a home and why. Learn what you can do to help your home sale make it to closing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Often Do Pending Offers Fall Through When Selling a Home?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover how often pending offers fall through when selling a home and why. Learn what you can do to help your home sale make it to closing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-09T17:57:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T08:10:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Haddad\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Haddad\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Often Do Pending Offers Fall Through When Selling a Home?","description":"Discover how often pending offers fall through when selling a home and why. Learn what you can do to help your home sale make it to closing.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Often Do Pending Offers Fall Through When Selling a Home?","og_description":"Discover how often pending offers fall through when selling a home and why. Learn what you can do to help your home sale make it to closing.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/","og_site_name":"HomeLight Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","article_published_time":"2024-02-09T17:57:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-06T08:10:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":563,"url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Richard Haddad","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gohomelight","twitter_site":"@gohomelight","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard Haddad","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/"},"author":{"name":"Richard Haddad","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7d7103b037dcb5e844946ec92b02a128"},"headline":"How Often Do Pending Offers Fall Through When Selling a Home?","datePublished":"2024-02-09T17:57:07+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-06T08:10:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/"},"wordCount":264,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through.png","articleSection":["Logistics","Offers &amp; Negotiations"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/","name":"How Often Do Pending Offers Fall Through When Selling a Home?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through.png","datePublished":"2024-02-09T17:57:07+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-06T08:10:42+00:00","description":"Discover how often pending offers fall through when selling a home and why. Learn what you can do to help your home sale make it to closing.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through.png","width":1000,"height":563,"caption":"A photo of a house with pending offer"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-pending-offers-fall-through\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Often Do Pending Offers Fall Through When Selling a Home?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","name":"HomeLight Blog","description":"Real Estate Advice from America&#039;s Top Agents","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"HomeLight","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","width":1348,"height":262,"caption":"HomeLight"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gohomelight","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/homelight\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCimugR9XF17-OZ7B9fNnxWw","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HomeLight"],"description":"Everything you need to know to sell your house faster and for more money. Articles, guides, and advice from top agents all over the U.S.","email":"support@homelight.com","telephone":"(888) 688-0350","legalName":"HomeLight","foundingDate":"2012-01-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"201","maxValue":"500"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7d7103b037dcb5e844946ec92b02a128","name":"Richard Haddad","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fbb89d16f303ea1de47fd69852400830b4a663ea6dbb4eecafbea5c1403da721?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fbb89d16f303ea1de47fd69852400830b4a663ea6dbb4eecafbea5c1403da721?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Richard Haddad"},"description":"Richard Haddad is the executive editor of HomeLight.com. He works with an experienced content team that oversees the company\u2019s blog featuring in-depth articles about the home buying and selling process, homeownership news, home care and design tips, and related real estate trends. Previously, he served as an editor and content producer for World Company, Gannett, and Western News &amp; Info, where he also served as news director and director of internet operations.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.homelight.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/richard-w-haddad"],"url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/author\/richardhaddad\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}