Did Cash Buyers Save the Housing Market?

Cash real estate sales have risen the last few years to some of the highest levels on record, and a new report by CoreLogic suggests that these sales heavily helped to contribute to stabilizing the residential housing market and leading it into recovery.

In the early 2000s, cash sales averaged 25 percent of home sales. But in 2007 and 2008, cash sales began to rise as foreclosures started to increase. By 2012, cash sales were making up 40 percent of sales and have since inched down to 39 percent as of May 2013.

“Without cash sales overall, sales today would be much lower and the price declines would have been worse,” Mortgage News Daily reports about CoreLogic’s findings. “More recently, cash sales have helped fuel price increases dramatically in several boom and bust markets. Median prices for cash sales are up 24 percent from a year ago while prices of sales generally have increased 15 percent.”

The rise in home prices will lead to a lower presence of cash sales as investor activity returns to more traditional levels, CoreLogic notes. With cash sales receding in recent months, first-time and trade-up home buyers will need to step in to keep the recovery expanding, CoreLogic notes.

Source: “Cash Sales Saved Housing Market -CoreLogic,” Mortgage News Daily (July 16, 2013)