Cash sales trending down

RealtyTrac’s most-recent Institutional Investor and Cash Sales Report reports that cash purchases in the 2nd quarter accounted for 38% of U.S. Home sales. This number is down considerably from the 42% that cash sales comprised for the 1st quarter of 2014. See RealtyTrac’s ALL-CASH SHARE OF U.S. HOME SALES PULLS BACK FROM 3-YEAR HIGH, INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR SHARE DROPS TO 3-YEAR LOW.

How does our local sales mix compare to these national numbers? In March, I reported that despite rising levels of cash sales nationally; at the local Reno-Sparks level, cash sales in our market appeared to be decreasing (See Cash purchases may be subsiding…locally)

I’ve pulled the latest numbers from our MLS and found that cash sales this year break out by quarter as follows:

• 24.9% of Q1 sales were cash purchases
• 23.9% of Q2 sales were cash purchases
• ~21% of Q3 sales thus far have been cash purchases

Both, nationally and locally all-cash home purchases are trending down.