Cash home sales increase in D.C.

Washington is following national trends in seeing an increase in homebuyers paying cash.

By the numbers: Almost one in five D.C. homes were bought last month with cash offers, according to Bright MLS data. 

• Out of almost 11,000 sales in the District in 2021, 16% were purchased with cash.

Why it matters: Cash offers — which most buyers can’t put up — are a sign of a tight market, Axios’ ​​Felix Salmon reports. In this kind of environment, there may be little hope that high mortgage rates will bring down prices. After all, high borrowing costs do nothing to deter cash buyers.

Zoom out: On the national level, 28% of homes sold for all-cash in March. That's the highest level we've seen since the post-crisis years when a lot of home sales were foreclosures, Salmon writes.

• Lenders tend to be wary about financing foreclosures and prefer cash sales.