Cash Sales Make Up 35 Percent of All U.S. Home Sales in December

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According to CoreLogic, cash sales made up 35.5 percent of total home sales in December 2014, down from 38.5 percent in December 2013.

The year-over-year share has fallen each month since January 2013, making December the 24th consecutive month of declines. Month over month, the cash sales share fell by half of a percentage point. Due to seasonality in the housing market, cash sales share comparisons should be made on a year-over-year basis. The peak occurred in January 2011 when cash transactions made up 46.5 percent of total home sales. Prior to the housing crisis, the cash sales share of total home sales averaged approximately 25 percent. Should the cash sales share continue to fall at the same rate that it did in December 2014, the share should reach 25 percent in mid-2017.

Real estate owned (REO) sales had the largest cash sales share in December 2014 at 58.4 percent, followed by re-sales (35.4 percent), short sales (32.7 percent) and newly constructed homes (15.6 percent). While the percentage of REO sales that were cash transactions remained high, REO transactions made up only 8.8 percent of all sales in December and, therefore, had a small influence on the overall cash sales share. In January 2011, when the cash sales share was at its peak, REO sales made up 23.9 percent of total sales.

Alabama had the largest share of any state at 52.2 percent, followed by Florida (50.3 percent), New York (45.9 percent), Michigan (44.6 percent) and Idaho (42.9 percent). Of the nation's largest 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population, Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, Mich. had the highest share of cash sales at 65.9 percent, followed by Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla. (58.3 percent), West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Fla. (57.2 percent), Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla. (56.3 percent) and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. (55.6 percent). Syracuse, N.Y. had the lowest cash sales share at 15 percent.