Financial Services Roundup: Market Talk

The latest Market Talks covering Financial Services. Exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

1017 ET – The number of buyers in the U.S. backing out of contracts to buy homes was 13.6% in May, unchanged from a month earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, Rocket says. Cancellation of contracts, or the number of home-sale agreements falling through, was more common in Atlanta, Fort Worth, and Jacksonville, FL. In each of those places, roughly 18% of all home-sale agreements that went under contract in May fell through. The share of homebuying deals that have fallen through has been fairly stable for the last two years, swinging between 13.4% and 14%. The fact that contract cancellations have steadied nationwide suggests that while affordability challenges continue to sideline some buyers, others have adjusted to higher mortgage rates. The weekly average rate has been over 6% for nearly four years, since late 2022. (chris.wack@wsj.com)