WRE NEWS
Nearly one in three homes sold in the first half of this year were purchased in all-cash transactions, according to a new data report from Realtor.com.
Nationwide, 32.8% of home sales in the first year’s first six months were all-cash transactions, down slightly from last year but above the pre-pandemic norms when cash averaged just 28.6% of sales.
During the year’s first half, two-thirds of homes under $100,000 and more than 40% of homes over $1 million were bought with cash, with the share topping 50% for homes above $2 million. Older households and buyers with significant equity were more likely to purchase without a mortgage, often using proceeds from a prior home sale, while high-wealth buyers were less influenced by borrowing costs and more likely to decide between cash and financing based on broader financial considerations.
The top five states for all-cash sales were Mississippi (49.6%), Montana (46.0%), Idaho (45.0%), Hawaii (44.9%), and Maine (44.4%). Hawaii and Maine attract affluent second-home cash buyers, many of them older and equity-rich, while Montana and Idaho recorded elevated shares as out-of-state cash buyers.
Among metros, Miami (43.0%), San Antonio (39.6%), Kansas City, Kan. (39.2%), Birmingham, Alabama (38.8%), Houston (38.8%), and St. Louis (38.1%) led the nation in cash share for the first half of the year while younger, high-cost, job-centered markets such as Seattle (17.9%), San Jose (20.6%), Denver (20.7%), and Washington, DC (21.5%) saw the lowest cash shares.
“Cash buyers have long been a fixture in the market, but their influence is more pronounced today than in pre-pandemic years,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “High-wealth buyers, investors, and those with significant equity can move quickly and often win out in competitive situations. For traditional, mortgage-reliant buyers, this can add another hurdle in an already challenging affordability environment.”