Cash buyers are running the housing market in these 6 US cities

As mortgage interest rates stay stubbornly above 6%, all-cash offers remain highly attractive, particularly at the two extremes of the market: the most affordable and the luxury segments. 

Nationally, roughly a third of all homes sold during the first half of 2025 were paid for in all cash, down just 0.6% from the same period a year ago, according to a new report on all-cash trends from Realtor.com®. 

Cash had its biggest moment at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when competition among buyers reached a fever pitch and many shoppers resorted to making all-cash offers as a way to win bidding wars.

That’s because cash buyers typically can come to the closing table faster and sidestep appraisal or financing contingencies—an attractive proposition for sellers looking to seal the deal as quickly as possible.

Additionally, as mortgage rates began climbing in mid-2022, cash offers emerged as a way for deep-pocketed buyers to dodge steep borrowing costs.

Notably, all-cash transactions vary dramatically across regions and are most common in bustling second-home markets and lower-priced metros where real estate investors often buy in cash.

“Their persistence underscores both the wealth concentration driving housing demand and the challenges faced by mortgage-dependent buyers in today’s high-cost housing market,” says Realtor.com® senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones.

Although all-cash transactions are not quite as popular nationwide today as they were in the years after the Great Recession of the mid-2000s, given the choice between a financed offer and a cash offer, many sellers still opt for the cash buyer.

Harrison Stevens, vice president of marketing at TurboTenant, tells Realtor.com that he once was bested by an all-cash buyer while still in the process of getting a mortgage.

“I had found a property I really liked and had formed a good relationship with the seller,” says Stevens, adding that he was led to believe that his financed offer would likely be accepted.

However, the presence of a competing all-cash offer derailed Stevens’ bid.

“At the last second, they reached out and told me they ended up going with a cash buyer instead, which was a shock,” he recounts. “I was glad that I hadn’t gotten too far in the process logistically, but it was definitely a major disappointment because in my mind I had gotten so far.”

Portrait of a cash buyer

Cash buyers typically fall into four, sometimes overlapping, categories: investors, second-home buyers, high net worth individuals, and older home shoppers. 

Investors, particularly big institutional players, dominate cash deals. According to deed data, limited liability companies and corporations account for an outsized share of all-cash sales. 

A recent report from Realtor.com looking at 2024 home sales found that the share of investors who paid all cash that year was nearly double the share of overall cash sales. 

House hunters shopping for second homes, especially in popular coastal vacation markets, also tend to purchase properties outright.

Affluent and older buyers are more likely to make cash offers than their lower-income, younger counterparts.

The reason for that, according to Jones, is that wealthy and older house hunters tend to be longtime homeowners armed with accumulated equity they can put toward their next home purchase without having to take out a mortgage.  

The U-shaped market

All-cash home purchases are concentrated at the two extremes of the market. About two-thirds of properties sold under $100,000 were paid in cash, while more than 40% of properties priced at over $1 million were cash deals. 

At the high end of the market, over half of homes priced between $2 million and $5 million were sold for cash, while more than 60% of homes in the $5 million to $10 million range were all-cash transactions.

“This creates a U-shaped relationship between price and cash prevalence, suggesting wealth-driven purchases at the high end and credit/income barriers, lack of financing availability, or the presence of investors at the low end,” according to the analyst.

Metros leading in all-cash sales

Looking at the geography of all-cash transactions, six metros stand out with the highest share of nonfinanced sales in the first six months of 2025.  

A popular luxury and second-home market, Miami led the nation in all-cash deals, at 43%.

When considering the luxury segment of Miami’s market, more than half of the homes priced above $1 million were purchased in all-cash transactions, recent data from Realtor.com shows.

“Liquidity rules Miami’s super prime luxury market,” Ana Bozovic, a Miami-based real estate agent and founder of Analytics Miami, tells Realtor.com. “Past $2,000 a square foot, over 80% of single-family and condo deals are all cash.”

Bozovic says that in Miami, that pattern is apparent: the higher the price, the more all-cash the market becomes. For example, above $1 million, more than 70% of condo sales are cash, while below $500,000, that share drops to around 46%.

“Cash is appealing to sellers because it means certainty,” she explains. “There is no appraisal risk, no financing contingency, and no delay. For buyers at the high end, paying cash eliminates friction and signals strength.”

At the pinnacle of the real estate market, Bozovic says the buyers tend to be “globally mobile, highly liquid individuals” who may prefer to move money without involving lenders.

“Purchasing with cash confers privacy, speed, and negotiating power,” she concludes.

San Antonio, TX, had the second-highest share of cash sales, at 39.6%, followed by Kansas City, MO, at 39.2%, and Birmingham, AL, and Houston, TX, each with 38.8%. St. Louis rounded out the rankings with 38.1% of sales. 

“These metros combine strong investor interest with either relatively affordable housing or significant high-end, wealth-driven, and international demand,” says Jones. “Buyers in these markets are often motivated by speed and competition, making cash offers especially effective.”

For example, the median list price in Birmingham in September was $299,000, roughly $130,000 below the national median, according to the September monthly housing market trends report from Realtor.com.

On the other hand, the typical home in Miami last month cost $499,900. 

Meanwhile, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston saw the steepest yearly gains in cash sales shares, driven by wealthy transplants, corporate buyers, and renewed investor interest in Sun Belt markets. 

“Growing for-sale inventory in these Texas metros opened up more opportunities for investors and other cash-rich buyers,” notes Jones.

Future of all-cash sales

Ongoing affordability challenges and elevated mortgage rates have made it more difficult for first-time and lower-income shoppers reliant on financing to break into the market, giving well-funded cash buyers the upper hand.

Cash buyers’ outsized influence is felt especially acutely in markets where would-be sellers are “locked in” by their ultralow mortgage rates, making them reluctant to list their properties.

“When homes do hit the market, cash buyers can move quickly, often setting the price tone for everyone else,” says Jones.

In many markets with high shares of cash sales, out-of-state buyers purchase vacation homes or rental properties, reducing the inventory for local residents and making it more difficult for shoppers relying on home loans to compete.

However, Jones points out that if mortgage rates decrease substantially next year, the balance between cash and financed buyers could shift, with more mortgage-dependent buyers returning to the market.

If that occurs, cash buyers could lose their dominant share of sales, and all-cash transactions would become less frequent.