An image of a house miniature sitting upon three thick bound stacks of money on a white background
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All-cash purchases rose to their highest level since the first quarter of 2015, according to a new report released by ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm. All-cash purchases comprised 34% of all single-family house and condo sales in the third quarter. In some markets, all-cash transactions represented more than half of sales.

Cash sales represented the largest share of all transactions in the third quarter in Columbus, Ga. (74.6% of all sales); Atlanta (69%); Macon, Ga. (59.3%); Youngstown, Ohio (56.6%); and Detroit (56.2%), according to ATTOM Data Solutions.

All-cash sales have risen the most in Atlanta and Detroit over the last year.

A bar chart showing the top 10 U.S. markets with the greatest annual increases in share of cash sales for Q3 2021

Institutional investors—who tend to make up the bulk of cash transactions—reached their highest level in the market since the first quarter of 2014, according to ATTOM Data Solutions. They accounted for 7.3% of all single-family house and condo purchases in the third quarter. The states with the largest percentages of sales to institutional investors in the third quarter were Arizona (17.4% of all sales); Georgia (13.9%); and Mississippi (12.8%).

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