Cash Sales Continue to Drop Annually

Despite a slight month-over-month uptick, all-cash home sales declined year-over-year for the 21st straight month in September, according to transaction data from CoreLogic.

Cash sales accounted for 34.8 percent of total home sales, the company reported, down from 37.2 percent in September 2013. The share of cash sales has fallen annually every month since January 2013.

Compared to August, the cash sales share was up 1 percentage point. Due to the housing market's seasonal nature, CoreLogic says annual comparisons serve as a better indicator of changes.

Before the start of the housing crisis, the cash sales share of total homes averaged nearly 25 percent. They hit a peak in January 2011, accounting for 46.4 percent of all transactions.

By transaction type, REO sales accounted for the largest slice of cash sales at 58.1 percent. However, that majority share comes with a catch, as CoreLogic senior economist Molly Boesel explains: "While the percentage of REO sales that were cash transactions remained high, REO transactions made up only 7.8 percent of total sales in September and, therefore, did not have a larger influence on the overall cash sales share."

Meanwhile, resales—which account for the biggest portion of transactions—made up 34.4 percent of cash sales, followed by short sales (32.4 percent) and newly built homes (16.8 percent).

By state, Delaware had the largest share of cash sales at 57.4 percent. Florida, the previous No. 1 cash sales state, was second at 50.8 percent, followed by Alabama (49.6 percent), New York (44.4 percent), and Idaho (43.3 percent).