Cash Sales on the Decline in Chicago, Nationwide

Recent data released from CoreLogic is showing that all cash sales are continuing to decline not only in Chicago, but also around the country as well. According to the report, cash transactions have been on a steady downslide for about 29 months, with recent figures from May showing about a 3% decrease year-over-year, bringing the total percentage of all cash home purchases to about 31.9% nationwide.  

In Illinois specifically, cash sales occupied about 28% of the total market share, with traditionally financed purchases seemingly on the rise. As for the city of Chicago, cash sales are still just over 30%, even despite dropping 4.4 percentage points year-over-year in May.

So what does all this mean?

According to research from CoreLogic, cash sales around the country peaked in January 2011, and since then, have been slowing coming back down to “normal”, pre-recession levels of at or around 25%.

Traditionally, cash sales tend to pick back up in the fall and winter months, however, as pent up demand among first time home buyers continues to enter the marketplace, cash sales around Chicago should continue to keep declining, meaning a more healthy housing market as we approach the new year.