Cash sales declined once again and now make up 34.6% of total home sales nationally in March, down 39% from March 2014, according to the latest report from CoreLogic.
The year-over-year share has fallen each month since January 2013, with March marking the 27th consecutive month of declines.
On a monthly basis, the cash sales share fell by 2.8 percentage points. However, it is better to look at the year-over-year basis due to seasonality in the housing market.
To put these numbers in perspective, the cash sales share peak occurred in January 2011 when cash transactions made up 46.5% of total home sales nationally.
Prior to the housing crisis, the cash sales share of total home sales averaged approximately 25%. If the cash sales share continues to fall at the same rate it did in March 2015, the share should decrease to 25% by mid-2016.
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Source: CoreLogic
Click to enlarge
Source: CoreLogic