All-Cash Sales Hit Seven-Year Low

One-third of all home sales during 2015 were all-cash transactions, according to new data from CoreLogic. Last year’s cash sales sum was the lowest recorded since 2008 and is roughly 13 percent below the 46.6 percent peak in January 2011.

During December 2015, cash sales accounted for 33.4 percent of total home sales, down 2.8 percent from the previous year and down 3.3 percent on a year-over-year measurement. Real estate-owned sales had the largest cash sales share in December 2015 at 59.2 percent, while re-sales saw 33.4 percent in cash sales shares and short sales 30.9 percent; in comparison, only 1.54 percent of newly constructed homes were acquired via cash sales.

Delaware had the largest cash sales share of any state in December with 57 percent, followed by Alabama (50.1 percent), New York (46.5 percent), Florida (46.3 percent) and Mississippi (45 percent). Among the leading metro areas, Detroit led the nation with a 62.7 percent cash sales share, while Syracuse, N.Y. had the lowest cash sales share at 12.5 percent.