In February of 2015, cash sales comprised 37.9% of all home sales, down from 40.6% in February of 2014 and marking the 26th consecutive monthly year-over-year decline. Cash sales fell by 1%, compared with cash sales of 38.9% in January 2015.

Cash home sales reached a peak in January of 2011 when 46.5% of all home sales in the United States were sold for cash. That peak was nearly double the pre-housing crisis average of around 25%. At the current rate of decline in monthly cash sales, that average should be reached in mid-2018.

The five states where cash sales were highest in February were Florida (54.6%), Alabama (51.9%), New York (48.4%), Indiana (47.8%) and Michigan (44.6%). Sales include new construction, resales, real-estate owned (REO) and short sales, and the data was reported Monday by CoreLogic.

Cash sales for REO properties accounted for 59.8% of all cash sales, while cash sales for resales and short sales accounted for about 37.6% and 34.3%, respectively. All-cash sales of new homes came in at 15.8% of all new home sales.

As a percentage of all sales, REOs accounted for 9.7% of total February real-estate sales. In January 2011, REO sales accounted for nearly 24% of all sales.

Of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, the five Core-Based Statistical Areas with the greatest percentage of cash sales are:

• Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, Mich.: 60.5%
• Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.: 59.4%
• Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla.: 59.3%
• Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla.: 58.5%
• West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Fla.: 58.4%

The metro area with the lowest percentage of cash sales was Washington, D.C., with a cash sales share of 16.9% of all sales.

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