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Cash purchases slip as share of home sales falls from pandemic highs

Cash transactions fell 11.2% year over year during the first four months of 2026, faster than total home sales which dropped 8.5%.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Residential

Cash buyers are losing some of the dominance they gained during the pandemic housing boom, with their share of U.S. home sales falling to 31.4% in the first four months of 2026, down from 32.3% a year earlier, according to a Realtor.com report cited by HousingWire.

HousingWire reports that cash purchases declined faster than overall home sales, with total sales down 8.5% year over year while the number of cash transactions fell 11.2%. The outlet also notes that price growth has slowed, with the median sale price up just 0.2% year over year versus 1.8% growth in 2025 and a 15.4% peak in 2021.

Realtor.coms senior economist Hannah Jones said cash buyers are not disappearing, but becoming less dominant as more inventory and moderating prices give financed buyers more opportunities to compete. She added that cash still matters for sellers because it can support deals that close faster with fewer surprises.

Despite the national cooling, cash share rose in some major markets, including Pittsburgh where it increased by 6.8 percentage points year over year, and Austin where both cash share and cash purchases increased. By state, Mississippi led at 47.2% cash share, followed by Montana at 45.9%, New Mexico at 43.8%, Missouri at 42.0%, and Florida at 41.3%, while Seattle at 16.4%, Washington, D.C., at 18.2%, Denver at 18.8%, and San Jose at 20.2% saw among the lowest cash shares.

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