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RealtyTrac: All-Cash Sales at Lowest Since Late 2009

Institutional investor share at 15-year low

HOUSINGWIRE - Just under a quarter – that is 24.6% – of all single family home and condo sales in May were all-cash purchases, down from 28.5% in the previous month and down from 30.4% a year ago to the lowest level since November 2009, RealtyTrac reports.

The cash sales share in May was close to its long-term average going back to January 2000 of 24.8% and well below its recent peak of 42.2% in February 2011. The share of institutional investors — entities purchasing at least 10 properties in a calendar month — dropped to 2.4% of single family home sales in May, a record low going back to January 2000, the earliest month with data available.

The share of distressed sales dropped to a new low of 10.5% in May, down from 15.4% in April and down from 18.3% a year ago to the lowest level since January 2011 — the earliest that RealtyTrac has data for this metric.