A recent report by the real estate brokerage firm, ORC, has left Orlando real estate agents reveling. The report, released Wednesday, March 26, listed Orlando second in the US in terms of non-financed sales of real estate in 2013.
ORC’s analysis of the state of all-cash sales in the US
For the analysis, ORC studied all of its real estate transactions over the two-year period, spanning from January 2012 to December 2013. It found that 26 percent of all real estate purchasing done through ORC had been completed via cash. Further, an impressive 25 percent of all residential properties purchased in 2013, through the same firm, had also been completed in cash.
According to the report, the top five metro areas with the highest concentration of all-cash real estate transactions are:
1. Las Vegas – 48 percent all-cash sales
2. Orlando – 43 percent all-cash sales
3. Chicago – 33 percent all-cash sales
4. Richmond, Va. – 32 percent all-cash sales
5. Los Angeles – 29 percent all-cash sales
Dynamic market conditions facilitate all-cash purchasing
The trend of making all-cash purchases of real estate properties has been picking up pace over the last few years – a trend that top Orlando realtors have not only witnessed in the Orlando real estate market but also cherished.
Non-financed deals are typically faster to close and preferred by sellers. The Orlando-based firm lists two market conditions as primary triggers of increased all-cash purchases:
Historically low levels of housing inventory
Increased investments and investor activities in the housing market
True enough. Investors backed by large institutions possess the financial ability to write checks for homes. With several big-budget luxury residential apartments coming up in the metro area, Orlando real estate agents can expect to bank in all-cash deals in 2014 too.
Residential projects like the $56 million apartment complex at Crescent Central Station, the 800 luxury apartments to be constructed by BentleyForbes Del American, and the Winter Park Village projects, are expected to bring in a lot of business for Orlando realtors. If the trend of high all-cash sales in Orlando continues, 2014 will be a good year for them.
But all is not so well
ORC also found that one in every four sales of real estate properties made by the firm in the two-year period closed as an all-cash deal. Now 1-in-4 appears to be a rather good fraction. However, the fact is that All-cash sales are decreasing in magnitude. Back in 2010, the percentage of all-cash sales was 27. In 2011, it went down to 25.6 percent and has been decreasing every subsequent year.
