Who's Buying Houses for Cash?

Cash Buyers at Extremes of Market

No, I don't have any hard data backing me up.

But anecdotally, at least, it seems like the two likeliest kinds of houses to be bought for cash these days are:

One. Bank-owned foreclosures selling for bargain-basement prices -- and in such tough condition no lender would accept them as collateral; and

Two. Upper, upper bracket homes, where the Buyers' balance sheets are so large that they are effectively immune from "the recent unpleasantness."

As a practical matter, the only way to flag a cash purchase -- at least that I'm aware of -- is to look for sales where the house's "off market" date and closing date are separated by only a few days.

Or, they're the same date.

By contrast, when the Buyer requires a mortgage, the interval is typically at least 15 business days.

That allows time for the appraisal, underwriting, re-visiting the appraisal, etc.