Housing

August Cash Home Sales Highest in Miami, Philadelphia

Paul Ausick

Published: November 19, 2015 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 5:00 pm

In August of 2015, cash sales comprised 31.7% of all home sales, down from 34.9% in August of 2014, marking the 32nd consecutive year-over-year monthly decline. Cash sales rose by 0.8 percentage points compared with cash sales in July.

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 August rate of decline in monthly cash sales, that average should be reached again in mid-2017.

The five states where cash sales were highest in August were Alabama (47.5%), Florida (45.2%), New York (42.4%), West Virginia (39.6%) and Missouri (39.5%). Sales include new construction, resales, real estate owned (REO) and short sales, and the data were reported Thursday by CoreLogic.

Cash sales for REO properties accounted for 57.9% of all cash sales, while cash sales for resales and short sales accounted for about 31.1% and 29%, respectively. All-cash sales of new homes came in at 15.5% of all new home sales.

As a percentage of all sales, REOs accounted for 6% of total August 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 in August were:

• Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla.: 51.7%
• Philadelphia, Pa.: 51%
• West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Fla.: 50.8%
• North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.: 48.5%
• Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla.: 47.7%

The metro area with the lowest percentage of cash sales was Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria, Va., with a cash sales share of 13.6% of all sales.

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