More Than One-Third of Home Purchases Are Cash Sales

Cash is certainly still king when it comes to homebuying, according to new data from CoreLogic.

During November 2015, cash sales accounted for 36.4 percent of total home sales, up 2.5 percent from October and down a scant 0.7 percent from November 2014. CoreLogic explained the data as being “most likely related to the new federal mortgage rules that took effect in October 2015,” although that doesn’t quite explain why more than one-third of buyers eschewed a mortgage in favor of an all-cash transaction.

Among the specific sectors of the homebuying sphere, real estate-owned (REO) sales had the largest cash sales share in November at 63.2 percent, followed by short sales at 34.3 percent and newly constructed homes at 16.7 percent. Michigan led the states among cash sales share at 53.4 percent, while four Florida markets were the leaders among cash share sales in metro area housing: West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Fla. (53.4 percent); Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla. (52.5 percent); Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla. (50.4 percent); and North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. (50.1 percent).