June Cash Home Sales Drop Below 30% for First Time Since 2007

September 27, 2016 by Paul Ausick

In June of 2016, cash sales comprised 29.3% of all home sales, down from 31.8% in June of 2015, marking the 42nd consecutive year-over-year monthly decline. Cash sales fell by 2.8 percentage points month over month in June.

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-2018. June 2016 marks the first time since late 2007 that cash sales have dropped below 30% of all home sales.

June data was reported Tuesday 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 June were New York (45.3%), Alabama (44.6%), Florida (40.6%), Oklahoma (38.6%) and Indiana (35.7%). Sales include new construction, resales, real-estate owned (REO) and short sales.

Cash sales for REO properties accounted for 56.2% of all cash sales, while cash sales for resales and short sales accounted for about 28.9% and 27.7%, respectively. All-cash sales of new homes came in at 15.2% of all new home sales in June.

As a percentage of all sales, REOs accounted for 4.9% of total June 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 June were:

  • Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, Michigan: 56.5%
  • West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Florida: 49.3%
  • Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Florida: 47.9%
  • North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida: 47.7%
  • Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida:46.1%

The metro area with the lowest percentage of cash sales was Syracuse, New York, with a cash sales share of 12.6% of all sales.

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