Housing
February Cash Home Sales Highest in Philadelphia, Detroit
Published:
Last Updated:
In February of 2016, cash sales comprised 35.7% of all home sales, down from 38.1% in February of 2015, marking the 38th consecutive year-over-year monthly decline. Cash sales rose by 0.1 percentage points month over month.
Cash home sales reached a peak in January of 2011, when 46.6% 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%. If cash sales continue to fall at the December rate, the 25% rate should be achieved by mid-2017.
February data was reported Thursday by CoreLogic. For all of 2015, 33.9% of all home sales were cash transactions, the lowest total since 2008.
The five states where cash sales were highest in January were Alabama (51.7%), Florida (49.2%), New York (46.9%), Indiana (44.8%) and West Virginia (44.2%). Sales include new construction, resales, real-estate owned (REO) and short sales.
Cash sales for REO properties accounted for 59.2% of all cash sales, while cash sales for resales and short sales accounted for about 35.6% and 32.6%, respectively. All-cash sales of new homes came in at 15.2% of all new home sales in February.
As a percentage of all sales, REOs accounted for 7.8% 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 in February were:
- Philadelphia, Pa.: 54.5%
- Detroit, Mich.: 53.8%
- West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Fla.: 53.4%
- Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla.: 52.5%
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.: 51.8%
The metro area with the lowest percentage of cash sales was Syracuse, N.Y., with a cash sales share of 11.5% of all sales.
ALERT: Take This Retirement Quiz Now (Sponsored)
Take the quiz below to get matched with a financial advisor today.
Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.
Here’s how it works:
1. Answer SmartAsset advisor match quiz
2. Review your pre-screened matches at your leisure. Check out the advisors’ profiles.
3. Speak with advisors at no cost to you. Have an introductory call on the phone or introduction in person and choose whom to work with in the future
Take the retirement quiz right here.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.