Nearly One in 5 Homes Sold in DC in 2017 Were All-Cash Purchases

• November 30, 2017

by Nena Perry-Brown

A rendering at Westlight Condos where many residences were purchased in all-cash transactions.

While many prospective homebuyers in DC are concerned with just finding a house they can afford, sellers are looking for deals with little to no red tape or contingencies, and cash sales fit that bill.

Since January, 7,758 homes have sold in the District — and just over 19 percent of those homes went to buyers paying all cash. Neighborhoods like West End* saw over half of home purchases made in cash while in Georgetown, where the sales volume is much higher, 30 percent of home purchases were all-cash transactions.

Competitive bidding wars didn’t necessarily correlate with a higher proportion of cash purchases; homes in North Cleveland Park, for example, sold for an average of 104 percent of listing price this year, yet just 16 percent of those sales were cash transactions.

Below is a sampling of neighborhoods and the percentage of all-cash transactions in 2017:

* Spring Valley: 37.2 percent
* Congress Heights: 27.6 percent
* Capitol Hill: 22.5 percent
* Petworth: 19 percent

In this article, the term “home” is defined as any single-family house, condo or co-op that sold in the city in 2017. * indicates homes in advertised rather than legal subdivisions.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/nearly_one_in_5_homes_sold_in_dc_in_2017_were_all-cash_purchases/13307