By Pamela M. Prah, Pew/Stateline
Cash is king, especially for those buying homes in Florida: A stunning 64% of all home sales in early 2014 in Florida were cash-only purchases.
New York (59%) and Alabama (56%) rounded out the top three states with the highest percentage of buyers plopping down cash instead of taking out mortgages to buy residential properties, according to new figures from RealtyTrac, a California-based firm that tracks and analyzes housing data.
Even in states such as Colorado, where only a third of home purchases in the first quarter of 2014 were all-cash transactions, the trend is evident. Greg Smith, a Denver-area broker owner at RE/MAX Alliance, said “cash offers are winning the bidding wars” more and more often.