Florida Cities Lead in All-Cash Purchases

 By Amy Connolly

Redfin reports over one-third of U.S. home purchases in February were all cash – close to the record high. Florida saw big increases in year-over-year all-cash purchases.

SEATTLE – Six Florida metro areas lead the nation in all-cash home purchases, possibly highlighting the impact investors are having on the state’s housing market.

Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa and Orlando account for six of the top 12 metro areas in the United States that have home purchases made in cash, according to new Redfin research. Redfin defines an all-cash home purchase as one with no mortgage loan information on the deed.

Share of homes purchases made with cash:

1. Jacksonville: 54.4%         
2. West Palm Beach: 53.4%
3. Cleveland:  48.8%
4. Fort Lauderdale: 46.2%
5. Atlanta: 46.1%
6. Miami: 44.0%          
7. Baltimore: 43.1%
8. Tampa 42.8%
9. Detroit: 40.9%
10. Riverside: 40.7%
11. Cincinnati: 40.5%
12. Orlando: 40.1%

Investors aren’t the only reason accounting for the increase in all-cash purchases, Redfin said. Some buyers, flush with cash from equity from a previous home sale, are paying in cash to ease the sting of higher interest rates.

In Florida, Jacksonville saw an increase of 8 percentage points (ppts) in all-cash purchases from a year earlier – the biggest jump in the state. Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Miami also saw year-over-year increases in all-cash purchases (2.5 ppts, 2.1 ppts and 1 ppts respectively). West Palm Beach and Orlando saw year-over-year decreases in all-cash purchases (-1.6 ppts and -.1 ppts, respectively).

Florida also follows the national trend of higher down payments, according to Redfin research. Nationally, median down payments increased 24.1% from a year earlier – the largest annual increase in percentage terms since April 2022, Redfin said. Jacksonville was the only city in the state to come out ahead of the national trend at a 29.4% increase in median down payments year over year.

West Palm Beach

• Median down payment: $80,000
• YOY change: 13.6%

Miami

• Median down payment: $77,220
• YOY change: 12.7%

Fort Lauderdale:

• Median down payment: $60,000
• YOY change: 11.4%

Orlando:

• Median down payment: $49,490
• YOY change: 23.7%

Tampa

• Median down payment: $39,702
• YOY change: 10.1%

Jacksonville

• Median down payment: $31,500
• YOY change: 29.4%

“Homebuyers are doing whatever they can to pull together a large down payment in order to lower their monthly payments moving forward,” said Rachel Riva, a real estate agent in Miami. “The smallest down payment I’ve seen recently is 25%. I had one client who put down 40%.”

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