Cash Home Sales Highest in Michigan, West Virginia, Florida
In November of 2014, cash sales comprised about 36% of all home sales, down from almost 39% in November of 2013.
In November of 2014, cash sales comprised 36.1% of all home sales, down from 38.8% in November of 2013, and marking the 23rd consecutive year-over-year monthly declines. Cash sales rose slightly from the October total of 35.5% of all home sales.
Cash home sales reached a peak in January of 2011, when 46.4% 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%.
The five states where cash sales were highest in November were Michigan (54.4%), West Virginia (53.3%), Florida (51.4%), Alabama (50.7%) and South Dakota (45.5%). Sales include new construction, resales, real-estate owned (REO) and short sales, and the data were reported Wednesday by CoreLogic.
Cash sales for REO properties accounted for 61.1% of all cash sales, while cash sales for resales and short sales accounted for about 35.2% and 32.7%, respectively. All-cash sales of new homes came in at 16.3% of all new home sales.
As a percentage of all sales, REOs accounted for 10% of total November 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.: 63.2%
- Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla.: 58.2%
- West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Fla.: 57.3%
- Philadelphia, Penn.: 55.9%
- Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla.: 55.7%
The metro area with the lowest percentage of cash sales was Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va. at 15.8%.
Cash sales ticked up slightly month-over-month in November, which CoreLogic notes is typical of the fall and winter months.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
