Florida Leads Nation in Cash-Only Home Sales

Florida currently leads US cash-only home sales with what one expert called an “astounding” rate of all-cash home sales: 66 percent, a new report shows.

Investor groups, international buyers, landlords and those in the market for vacation homes are fueling a cash-only market that has virtually shut out entry-level homebuyers, who can’t get approved for mortgages.

The influx of cash continues to grow in one of the country’s most volatile states for real estate: Cash sales made up 57 percent of Florida’s home sales a year ago and 61 percent of all sales in June of this year, compared with the 66 percent reported in July, according to the report released today by RealtyTrac Inc.

Among Florida’s metropolitan areas, Brevard County had the highest rate of cash deals: Seven out of every 10 house sales last month went for cash. Next in line was the giant metro area that includes Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach; 69 percent of all sales there were all-cash deals.

Private-equity firms and institutional buyers have been actively picking up Florida’s lower-priced houses, fixing them up, and renting them for some time already, but those buyers are moving on to other states, RealtyTrac’s report shows. During July, institutional buyers drove 22 percent of the home sales in Georgia, 16 percent in Nevada, 15 percent in Arizona and 14 percent in Florida.

Copyright © 2013 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.), Mary Shanklin. Distributed by MCT Information