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

I suspect that most of the cash buyers are investors.

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

By Lily Leung

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.

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.

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

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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.