Interesting question. Have seen figures published from time to time about TYPES of loans being used (i.e., percentage of FHA, VA, conforming, jumbo, etc), and perhaps including percentages of all-cash sales, but not lately.
I no longer subscribe to industry publications which might contain them. You could trying fishing around on the mortgage industry websites and maybe come up with something, but I doubt the mortgage guys spread too much information about paying cash for homes---they won't make any money that way.
My guess is the number of people paying cash has grown in recent years, not only becuase more people have had more cash, but because there hasn't been any better place to park cash. If mortgages cost 7 percent, the buyer can pay himself the 7 percent by skipping the loan thing altogether. That may be a better return on his money than putting it into a 2-percent money market account.
In fact, I'm considering paying off the remaining 7-8 years of my loan right now, because we're no longer getting much of a mortgage interest deduction, but will have to watch the money market to see if this is a wise idea. CD rates are going up right now, and a major turn could occur sometime in the next year or so. |
