New data show seven-out-of-ten home sales in the Sacramento area between January and March involved some type of traditional financing, rather than all-cash. Local realtors say that's good news for most buyers.
Ron Greenwood is a realtor with Coldwell Banker in Sacramento. He says it wasn't that long ago that cash buyers ruled the Sacramento market.
"It was probably 50-50 if maybe not 40 percent were financed," says Greenwood, "the rest of them were all-cash. And I would say that was probably about three to four years ago."
The data from "MetroList" show cash sales for the first quarter totaled 25 percent of all sales. Greenwood, who is president-elect of the Sacramento Association of Realtors, says now that local home values are on the rise, cash-buyers and other investors looking to flip homes have lost interest.
"What happens is all of a sudden the opportunity for the investor has gone away and so it's a great time for the first-time home buyers, the people who have been afraid to get involved with the battling with all-cash buyers."
Greenwood says average home values have gone up by $50,000 in the past year and a half.
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