By Chris Arnold | NPR.org
Many homebuyers have been throwing down cold hard cash for their entire house purchase in recent years. Some are baby-boomers who sold a bigger house and are downsizing. Some are investors. Others are from outside the U.S.
“Top of the list in terms of cash sales in the first quarter was Florida, with 64 percent of all sales going to cash buyers, followed by New York, 59 percent; Alabama, 56 percent,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, which did a study on cash purchases.
Many housing market economists, however, think the numbers in that study are overstated — which suggests that even some experts aren’t certain about exactly what’s happening.
