National cash sales continued their descent in May, a new report released today from CoreLogic showed.
For 29 months, all-cash buyers have been leaving the market, as marked by continual year-over-year decreases in market share. In May, cash sales made up 31.9 percent of total home sales, compared to 35.1 percent during the same time last year.
As the below graph shows, total cash sales share peaked in Jan. 2011, and have since been inching their way back down to “normal,” pre-crisis levels of around 25 percent. May’s dip was another step toward more stable cash sales levels, but as we move into fall and later winter, that number could come back up a little bit, as has been the case in years past.
In Texas, where the cash sales share has dropped to 28 percent, the state is surging passed its neighbors, which all support levels above 30 percent. A big driver behind the state’s improvement has been the progress made by Houston in recent years. Since May 2014, cash sales share in the Bayou City have fallen 4.3 percentage points to 29.9 percent. The drop in cash transactions represents an increase in traditionally financed home purchases and, ultimately, a more sustainable market.
