Fewer homes are being paid for with cash than a year ago, but the share of all-cash buyers remains well above levels from before the housing bubble burst nearly a decade ago. Cash sales across the country made up 33.9% of all home sales in October, real-estate data firm CoreLogic said Thursday. That’s down from 36.4% of all transactions a year ago, but above the average of about 25% before the housing crisis. If the share of cash sales continues to fall at the same pace, it won’t get back to those levels until mid-2018, CoreLogic said.
At its peak, the share of all-cash sales stood at 46.6% in January 2011. The states where cash transactions accounted for the biggest share of home sales in October are Alabama, Florida, New York, West Virginia and Indiana. Three areas in Florida, all along the Atlantic Coast, had the highest share of cash sales among the 100 largest core-based statistical areas, CoreLogic said. Here’s how the entire U.S. looks:
While investors and foreign buyers have snatched up real estate in prime locations like Miami and New York City, analysts believe the presence of foreign auto makers and other industrial companies may be driving those sales in Alabama. Bank-owned properties had the largest share of cash sales in October, at 59.7%. But they made up of 7.3% of all sales in October. That’s down from 23.9% of all sales in January 2011, when cash sales peaked. This article originally appeared on MarketWatch.