All-cash home purchases drop

All-cash purchases of single-family homes nationwide fell 30.3 percent in December, according to data released Feb. 16.

That year-over-year drop represented the lowest number of all-cash purchases in the last month of the year since 202, Seattle-based Redfin reported.

The number of homebuyers paying  cash reached its highest point – nearly 35 percent last late in 2023, mostly because mortgage rates  were just short seven percent. Many buyers who could afford to pay cash did so to avoid high mortgage payments.

Paying cash can allow a buyer to pay ten to 20 percent below appraised value, according to Redfin.

Fourteen point four of homebuyers  who took out mortgages in December used FHA loans, down from 15.1 percent in December 2024, the lowest December share since 2021. Riverside had the most of FHA loans of any market (25.6 percent), followed by Las Vegas (24 percent) ) and Atlanta (21 percent ), according to Redfin.