Fewer and fewer homebuyers are throwing cash on the table, but a new generation of tech-minted millionaires is bucking the trend.
Cash sales overall are on the decline in the national housing market, according to the cash buyer report released by Realtor.com® on Tuesday. They accounted for 31.4% of sales in the first four months of the year, compared to 32.3% to start 2025.
The largest growth in cash purchases, however, happened in Pittsburgh (+6.8 points), Providence, RI (+3.7), Austin, TX (+2.7), Dallas (+2.3), and Houston (+1.9), Realtor.com data shows.
The housing market overall is in a tight spot with high interest rates and waning buyer interest. But new pockets of wealth are emerging, and some of these cities are primed to see big boosts. Some are benefiting from the AI boom, while Austin and Texas more generally are seeing an influx of millionaires thanks to SpaceX’s recent IPO.
The National Association of Realtors® found that 26% of buyers in June and July were all-cash sales.
“Investors, second-home buyers and repeat buyers who can leverage cash from a previous sale are using their buying power,” the group said in a note on its latest Confidence Index.
Cash sales still have their allure, though.
“For sellers in today’s market, where time on the market is growing and sales feel less certain, an all-cash offer would still be highly attractive, especially for certainty’s sake,” Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones wrote in the report.
In fact, “instant buyer” firm Opendoor found cash offers typically close on a sale in 29 days, compared to the typical 60 to 85. In 2025, 31.6% of sales nationwide were all-cash, compared to 31.7% in 2024 and 33.2% in 2023.
Diverging markets
Cash sales surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and have since receded, Realtor.com data shows. But some areas have seen change faster than others. In the Sun Belt, for instance, buyers are reacting to falling prices by putting in bids. Meanwhile, the Northeast sees financed buyers priced out of tough markets.
Cash purchases remain popular at the top and the bottom of the market. About two-thirds of the homes sold for under $100,000 were paid in cash, as were 40% of homes sold over $1 million. The majority of homes over $2 million were also cash purchases.
By comparison, almost 64% of home sales in the first four months happen on the middle of the spectrum, involving homes priced between $200,000 and $750,000. Realtor.com found that means a U-shaped relationship to cash buyers: The wealthy are at the top end, and those without access to credit, financing, or income barriers were on the lower end, with investors.
There are more and more high earners in the housing market. Skyrocketing home values are minting millionaires left and right, too. The Great Wealth Transfer will bring even more new people into the housing market with cash on hand. But that wealth will move with opportunity, and cash sales are a way to boost a bid for a house.
“That certainty is worth more to sellers today than it was a few years ago, not because competition is fierce, but because it’s faded,” Jones writes in the report. “As buyer demand has cooled and inventory has built up in many metros, homes are sitting on the market longer, and a fast, guaranteed close becomes the main selling point of an all-cash offer rather than a way to win a bidding war.”
Headline markets
Across all 50 states, the share of cash sales fell about 50%. But they remain highest in affordable markets as well as luxury ones. It might make the most sense to divide the top performing cash markets by that motivation.
Mississippi topped all other states for share of cash purchases at 47.2%, with its median home price of $271,000. Rural lack of access to credit could be driving the trend there, as well as in New Mexico, which stood at 45.9%.
Meanwhile, Montana, at 45.9%, came in second for cash purchases, likely because of an influx of affluent people and second-home buyers. Missouri, at 42%, is just an inexpensive market. And Florida, which has an older buyer base, came in at fifth, at 41.3%. There, older retirees on fixed incomes could be motivated to buy with cash.
For cities, Miami (43.2%) courts the luxury buyers. Kansas City (38.9%) and St. Louis (37.5%) retain the Midwestern affordability. And Houston (38.8%) and San Antonio (38.7%) invite cash-rich buyers as they’ve seen rebalancing.
Low-cash markets are expensive ones with lots of young people and lots of lending. That includes Washington state (18.7%), Washington, DC (20.3%), Maryland (21%), and Colorado (22.3%).
