Cash buyers pull back from US housing market

Boston

THE share of US home purchases made with cash has fallen to a five-year low as investors pull back from a property market that's rebounding without them.

Fewer than 25 per cent of single-family home and condominium purchases were all-cash transactions in May, the lowest level since November 2009 and down from a peak of more than 42 per cent in February 2011, research firm RealtyTrac said in a report on Thursday. The share of acquisitions by institutional investors, defined as those making at least 10 purchases in a calendar year, fell to 2.4 per cent, the lowest in more than 15 years of RealtyTrac data.