I. A holdback is a portion of the purchase price that is not paid at the closing date. This amount is usually held in a third party escrow account (usually the seller's) to secure a future obligation, or until a certain condition is achieved. Holdbacks are very common in purchase and sale agreements 1. Multiple holdback a. Under this scheme an owner of the land on which a construction project is built is required to retain an amount known as a holdback equal to 10% of progress payments made to the contractors with whom the owner enters into direct contracts for the construction of the project