More than 1 in 3 Home Sales All-Cash; Declining Slowly

The share of all cash sales continue to fall in December alongrnwith the volume of distressed property sales. CoreLogic said on Monday thatrn35.5 percent of total home sales in December were all cash, down from 38.5rnpercent from December 2013 and 0.5 percent lower than just a month before. The sharernof cash sales has fallen year-over-year since January 2013, making December thern24^th straight month of declines.</p

Cash sales peaked at 46.5 percent of all sales in Januaryrn2011 and are now about half-way back to the average that existed prior to thernhousing crisis – approximately 25 percent. rnCoreLogic projects that should cash sales continue at the December raternof decline these sales should be back to that quarter-share level by mid-2017.  </p

Sales of lender owned real estate (REO) continue to bernpredominantly cash sales – 58.4 percent in December.  But as the share of REO falls, so does therninfluence of those sales on the overall numbers.  Sales of REO made up only 8.8 percent ofrnsales in December compared to a 23.9 percent share when cash sales were at theirrnpeak.  Cash transactions made up 35.4rnpercent of resales, 32.7 percent of short sales, and 15.6 percent of sales ofrnnewly constructed homes in December. </p

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The highest proportion of cash sales in December were inrnAlabama at 52.2 percent followed by Florida at 50.3 percent.  Florida is still in the throes of arnforeclosure crisis, but both states are also popular destinations for retireesrnwho may be buying real estate with cash pulled out of their pre-retirement homes.  Other states with high levels of cash sales werernNew York (45.9 percent), Michigan (44.6rnpercent) and Idaho (42.9 percent). </p

Of the nation’srnlargest 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population,rnDetroit-Dearborn-Livonia, Mich. had the highest share of cash sales at 65.9rnpercent, followed by Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla. (58.3 percent), West PalmrnBeach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Fla. (57.2 percent), Fort Lauderdale-PompanornBeach-Deerfield Beach, Fla. (56.3 percent) and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.rn(55.6 percent). Syracuse had the lowest cash sales share at 15 percent.</p

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