Cash Purchases of US Homes at Decade High Amid Rising Mortgage Rates

As home loan rates double from two years ago, cash purchases take up 34.1% of sales in September, signaling a shift due to dwindling inventory and rising housing costs.

The share of U.S. homes bought with cash reached its highest level in nearly a decade, accounting for 34.1% of all sales in September, demonstrating homebuyers' efforts to bypass the highest mortgage rates in two decades.
Despite a rise in all-cash purchases, overall home sales fell 23% in September from a year earlier due to increasing home loan borrowing costs, a low supply of homes for sale, and rising property prices.
The typical American homebuyer put down 16.1% of the purchase price as a down payment in September, the highest percentage in nearly a year and a half, effectively reducing the size of their mortgage.
Cash purchases currently hold a competitive edge over financed purchases, particular in the luxury home market where such transactions accounted for 43% of all sales in Q3, up from 35% a year earlier.
The average rate on a 30-year home loan has been above 7% since August - almost double the rate from February 2014 and a significant jump from just two years ago when rates averaged around 3%.