Cash sales made up 36.1% of all home sales in November 2014, falling from 38.8% in the previous year, according to a new report from CoreLogic (CLGX).
The drop from 2013’s total of cash sales marks the 23rd straight month that the amount of cash sales has fallen year-over-year. November’s figure did rise slightly from October’s total of 35.5%, but CoreLogic notes that an increase in cash sales is typical in the fall and winter months.
By comparison, the cash sales peak was in January 2011 when cash transactions made up 46.4% of total home sales. Prior to the housing crisis, the cash sales share of total home sales averaged approximately 25%.
According to CoreLogic’s data, REO sales had the largest cash sales share in November 2014 at 61.1%, followed by re-sales (35.2%), short sales (32.7%) and newly constructed homes (16.3%).
REO sales represented the largest share of cash sales, but made up only 10% of November’s total sales. At the height of the foreclosure crisis, cash sales made up 23.9% of total sales.
In terms of cash sales, Michigan had the largest share of any state at 54.4%, followed by West Virginia (53.3%), Florida (51.4%), Alabama (50.7%) and South Dakota (45.5%).
Given Michigan’s large share of cash sales, the Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia metro area represented the largest share of cash sales in the nation, with 63.2% of the total sales in that area in November being made in cash.
Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla. ranked second in terms of cash sales at 58.2 %, West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, Fla. ranked third at 57.3%, Philadelphia, Pa. was fourth at 55.9% and Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla. was fifth at 55.7%.
On the other end of the scale was Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md., which had the lowest share of cash sales at 15.8%.
Interestingly, the Nassau County-Suffolk County, New York metro area jumped 16.27% year-over-year, rising from 18.58% in November 2013 to 34.85% in 2014. The second highest jump in year-over-year data was in the Philadelphia area, where the cash sales share rose from 44.71% in 2013 to 55.93% in 2014.
Click the image below to see the cash sales percentage by state in November 2014. Image courtesy of CoreLogic.
