More home buyers backing out of deals

From CNN Money:

The Dow has shed thousands of points and the global economy is in crisis.

So who wants to buys a house right now? Not many people, it turns out.

The National Association of Home Builders, for instance, has seen its contract cancellations spike recently to as high as 30%, compared with an average rate of about 20%. During the housing boom, as few as 5% of sales were cancelled.

"The events of the past couple of weeks have people's heads spinning," said Steve Melman, NAHB's director of economic surveys.

The National Association of Realtors estimates that about 25% of the clients its members are working with are staying on the sidelines. They're looking at homes and intend to buy at some point, but right now they're worried about their jobs, their declining investments and falling housing prices.

"You have to have a lot of confidence to make this kind of big-ticket purchase in the current environment," said NAR spokesman Walter Molony.