Gulf Coast locales lead state in cash home sales

The Cape Coral-Fort Myers and North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota regions were national leaders for home purchases paid in cash in May, according to a new report.

The report, from real estate data firm CoreLogic, also found that more than half of all home sales in Florida in May, 53.4%, were cash purchases — the highest rate in the country. Other states with high cash purchase rates in May, CoreLogic says, were New York at 50.3%; Alabama at 48.9%; West Virginia at 48.3%; and South Dakota at 46.3%.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers and North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota significantly boosted Florida's May cash purchases rate. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, at 64%, had the second-highest share of cash sales in the month among the 100 largest metro areas nationwide, the report shows. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, at 62.7%, had the fourth-highest rate nationwide. The other regions in the top five were Nassau County-Suffolk County, N.Y. at 66.4%; West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach at 62.8%; and Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. at 61.1%.

Cash sales made up 34.4% of total homes sales nationwide in May, according to CoreLogic. That's down from 37.4% from May 2013, and the lowest overall nationwide share since May 2010, the report states.