Cash Home Sales Are in Decline in Most Cities, but a Handful Show a Surprising Bump

Fewer and fewer homebuyers are throwing cash on the table, but a new generation of tech-minted millionaires is bucking the trend.Cash sales overall are on the decline in the national housing market, according to the cash buyer report released by Realtor.com® on Tuesday. They accounted for 31.4% of sales in the first four months of the year, compared to 32.3% to start 2025.The largest growth in cash purchases, however, happened in Pittsburgh (+6.8 points), Providence, RI (+3.7), Austin, TX (+2.7), Dallas (+2.3), and Houston (+1.9), Realtor.com data shows.The housing market overall is in a tight spot with high interest rates and waning buyer interest. But new pockets of wealth are emerging, and some of these cities are primed to see big boosts. Some are benefiting from the AI boom, while Austin and Texas more generally are seeing an influx of millionaires thanks to SpaceX's recent IPO.The National Association of Realtors® found that 26% of buyers in June and July were all-cash sales."Investors, second-home buyers and repeat buyers who can leverage cash from a previous sale are using their buying power," the group said in a note on its latest Confidence Index.Cash sales still have the...