By Vance Cariaga | Investor’s Business Daily
After years of propping up the housing market, investors and other buyers who pay cash for homes might become less of a force as prices rise.
But don’t expect cash deals to fall to more normal levels for at least a couple of years.
Cash sales as a share of overall U.S. home sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for 19 straight months, according to industry researcher CoreLogic (CLGX). But they still accounted for 39% of sales by dollar value in May. That’s down only slightly from 40% a year earlier and well above the 25% average in 2000 through ’05.
