Majority of Metro Areas Poised for Eight-Year Home Sale Highs

More than half of the nation’s metro areas are on track to reach nine-year highs in home sales, according to new data released this morning by RealtyTrac.

The new August 2015 U.S. Home Sales Report from RealtyTrac found more than 1.9 million single-family homes and condos were sold last month, up 5.4 percent on a year-over-year basis. Out of 204 metro areas analyzed by RealtyTrac, 110 were on pace for an eight-year high in 2015, while 58 were aiming to reach nine-year high and 22 were on pace for a 10-year high.

All-cash sales accounted for 24.5 percent of all single-family home and condo sales in August, up from July’s seven-year low of 23.6 percent but below the 26.7 percent level August 2014 and far below the 39.6 percent peak in February 2013. The share of buyers using Federal Housing Administration loans made up 23.1 percent of all single-family and condo sales last month, up slightly from 23 percent in July and up from 17.8 percent in August 2014.

Distressed sales accounted for 8.9 percent of all August sales, down from 9.3 percent in July and down from 12.2 percent a year ago; last month marked the lowest level for distressed sales since RealtyTrac began following this sector in January 2000. Sales of homes to institutional investors—defined by RealtyTrac as “entities that purchase at least 10 properties during a calendar year”—accounted for one percent of all single family home and condo sales in August, up from 0.3 percent in July but down from 3.2 percent in August 2014.

“The continued strength in sales volume across a wide spectrum of markets in August indicates that shockwaves from recent global stock market instability have not weakened the housing recovery and in fact there is evidence that the instability has fueled more demand for U.S. real estate,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.