30 percent of existing home sales going to all-cash buyers.

[woo me with science]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2011-06-21-all-cash-buyers-scoop-up-homes_n.htm


Cash buyers are kings in weak home-sales market
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY

....
Cash buyers, who are mostly investors, accounted for at least 30% of existing-home sales for the fifth-straight month, the association says. They hit 35% of buyers in March.
....
Cash buyers are especially prevalent in markets where prices have fallen the most, often areas hard hit by foreclosures.
....
Cash buyers often get better deals because sellers know their offers won't fall through for lack of financing, says Walt Danley, president of the luxury real estate firm The Walt Danley Group in Arizona. A discount of up to 5% is typical, he says.

While Danley sees many foreign buyers paying cash, investors looking for rentals are also big cash buyers.
....
(more at link)

[Avalux]

1. Eventually.....

most homes will be owned by domestic/foreign investors, and people will pay rent to live in them. So much for the American Dream.

[joeybee12]

2. Yup, they're just turning them into rental properties...nt

[patrice]

3. Surprise, surprise. Who'd 'a' thunk . . .

[MineralMan]

4. It's happening in the Twin Cities, MN, too.

It's a good thing. The rental vacancy rate plummeted, and now the real estate investors are snapping up the foreclosed houses, doing a quick, minimal rehab on them and renting them. That's taking some of the under-valued foreclosed homes off the market and out of the inventory. That will allow the occupied properties that have had their prices depressed due to the foreclosed properties begin to sell and the prices to slowly recover.

In the long-term, the more foreclosed properties that leave the inventory, the more non-distressed properties will begin to recover their value.

Renters will have more choices, too.

[phantom power]

5. In bad economic times, cash is king