Honolulu is Bucking a National Trend of “Sale Fail”

When we say “it’s a deal,” we mean it.

June 2, 2017

Rachel Ross,

Photo: Thinkstock

Across the country, buyers are opting to cancel purchase contracts at a higher rate: In 2016 the number of homes coming back on the market after being in escrow doubled to 3.9 percent.

Source: Trulia

When it happens, it can be a big disappointment for buyers or sellers who have to start the process all over again. However, a look at data recently shared by Trulia shows that—as usual— Hawai‘i is a bit different from the rest of the country.

In Honolulu, 1.5 percent of homes went from a listing status of active to “in escrow” and back to “active” again in 2015. In 2016, it was only 1 percent. Trulia ranked these as “sale fails,” but for the top 100 metropolitan areas in the country Honolulu came up No. 95. Once homebuyers in our busy market get a house under contract, they usually follow through and buy the home, no matter how scary the inspection results, or how high that mortgage payment actually turns out to be.

However, Honolulu Realtors’ common practice of recommending their sellers accept a back-up offer may well be skewing those results. It’s not unusual to have multiple offers on one home here, and if you’re not the winning bidder, you’re likely happy to be the back-up, meaning you sign an addendum stating that, should the winning bidder cancel, you will immediately open escrow, and the house never goes back to “active,” or, more importantly, to the bidding stage.