The share of all-cash sales reached a new high in the first quarter of 2014, even as the total share of
institutional investor purchases dropped to near-record lows. All-cash sales made up 42-point 7 percent of
all U.S. residential property sales for Q1, up from 37-point 8 percent from the previous quarter, according
to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Institutional Investor and Cash Sales Report. All-cash sales are the highest they have
been since the company began tracking all-cash sales data in 2011.
While all-cash purchases were soaring to new heights to start the year, total investor purchases dropped
to the lowest level seen since Q1 2012. 5-point 6 percent of all U.S. residential sales in the first quarter
were from institutional investors, which RealtyTrac notes as a non-lending entity that purchases at least 10
properties in the past 12 months. The first quarter’s figure for investor purchases was a step down from the
6-point 8 percent rate in the fourth quarter of 2013, and down from 7 percent in the first quarter of 2013.
The mortgage delinquency rate declined to 3-point 6 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2014,
according to TransUnion's latest mortgage report. Overall, the mortgage delinquency rate has dropped 24
percent in the last year, and has experienced 9 consecutive quarters of decline. Currently, the rate is at the
exact same level as it was in the second quarter of 2008, according to the company. All 50 states and the
District of Columbia saw declines in mortgage delinquency rates between the first quarter of 2013 and the
first quarter of 2014.
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