What do these numbers mean?  They mean that the government needs to get their heads out of their anal cerebral inversion!  Almost 52% of January's sales were to investors!  We need to be recognized as a viable means for getting the vast number of REO back onto the market in a quick and efficient manner!

28% of San Diego home sales in Jan. were cash

DataQuick: Slow winter season, lower-than-ever prices were likely factors

By Lily Leung

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 6 a.m.

Almost three out of 10 homebuyers in San Diego County in January closed with cash, the highest it's been in 21 years, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems.

Company spokesman Andrew LePage said 28 percent of new and resale homes bought in the county last month had no records of mortgages, matching the percentage of cash purchases one year ago during the same time.

The figures from this year and January 2010 are second to only the peak at May 1989, when 29.1 percent of home purchases were made with cash.

Homes sold to cash buyers

Area	Jan. '10	Jan. '11	Peak since '88	10-yr. avg.
Los Angeles	26%	25%	26%	11%
Orange	24%	27%	27%	11%
Riverside	36%	36%	37%	17%
San Bernardino	36%	39%	39%	16%
San Diego	28%	28%	29%	13%
Ventura	23%	21%	43%	11%
Southern Calif.	30%	30%	30%	13%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Other DataQuick highlights, California

--In January, 51.9 percent of those paying cash were absentee buyers. That means the property-tax bills will be sent to different addresses, potentially signaling the deals were made by investors.

--About 52 percent of the homes bought with cash in January had been foreclosed on in the previous 18 months.

--The median price for a home bought with cash last month was $160,000, down from $175,000 in December and $164,000 one year earlier. The median home price for all homes sold throughout California last month was $239,000.

LePage said the historic high is likely due to lower-than-normal home prices and investors capitalizing on less competition during the holiday season, when most buyers are scrambling for presents, not homes. DataQuick numbers, which go back to 1988, show the monthly average of cash buyers is 12.6 percent in San Diego County.

The same upward trend was reflected statewide. In January, 30.9 percent of new and resale homes sold in California were bought with cash, the peak in at least 23 years, LePage said. During the same time in 2010, that number for the state was 29.5 percent.


To see the rest; go to the San Diego Union-Tribune article:
28% of San Diego home sales in Jan. were cash