Home sale agreements are falling through more frequently across US

New York

SPENDING months to find the perfect home in your price range, only to have your mortgage application rejected, or a home inspection turn up expensive repairs, is a nightmare - one that is coming true with increasing frequency, according to a new report from real estate listings website Trulia.

A Trulia analysis of US listings shows that 3.9 per cent of homes that moved from for-sale to pending moved back to for-sale again, nearly double the rate in 2015. Such "failed sales" increased in 96 of the 100 biggest US metros, with big swings in areas large and small, rich and poor. That includes Los Angeles and Charleston, South Carolina, as well as San Jose and Akron, Ohio.