Published October 14, 2026 in Market Update

1 in 5 buyers paid cash. Here is what that cost them.

By Amy Rossano

Real estate, Cherry Hill & Vorhees

People assume cash buyers sweep in, wave a check and walk away with a deal. The data from Cherry Hill and Voorhees tells a more interesting story. I counted 381 sales where the file shows how the buyer paid. Eighty-four of them paid cash. That is 22%, or just over 1 in 5.

Cash buyers moved faster. They paid less. And they still got every dollar of their asking price. Each of those three things is worth looking at on its own.

Cash buyers closed faster, but not by as much as you might think

The typical cash sale took 8 days to find a buyer. The typical financed sale took 11 days. That is a real gap, but it is not the landslide most people picture. Speed matters in this market, and cash does buy some of it, but 3 days is not a guarantee of winning. Sellers who think cash means instant are not wrong, just not as right as they believe.

The whole market moved at 10 days. So financed buyers were only 1 day off the pace. That is close enough that a well-prepared buyer with a loan can still compete.

Cash buyers paid less, and loan buyers paid more than asking

Here is the part that surprised me. The typical cash buyer paid $525,000. The typical buyer who used a loan paid $603,000. Cash buyers were buying at a lower price point, not buying the same homes for less.

Look at what each group paid against the asking price. Cash buyers paid exactly 100% of what the home last asked. Loan buyers paid 100.7%. Loan buyers, on average, paid more than asking, while cash buyers did not. That is the opposite of the story most people tell about cash.

One reason this matters: if you are a seller and a cash offer comes in at asking, it is not automatically better than a financed offer that comes in over asking. The numbers say financed buyers have been willing to go higher.

Cash did not bring a discount

Cash buyers paid 100% of what the home first asked. Not 97%. Not 95%. One hundred percent. The idea that cash earns a discount, that a seller will take less to avoid a financing contingency, did not show up in these 84 sales.

That does not mean sellers never take less for cash. It means that in this market, across 84 sales, the typical cash buyer did not get one. Sellers here had enough competition that they did not need to give ground.

Cash is a cleaner offer, not a cheaper price. If you are a cash buyer expecting a discount, this market has not been giving them out.

What this means if you are buying or selling right now

If you are selling, do not dismiss a financed offer just because someone else is waving cash. The data shows loan buyers paid 100.7% of asking on the typical sale. A strong financed offer, pre-approved and ready to move, has been beating asking price here. Evaluate the full offer, not just the payment type.

If you are buying with a loan, know that rates are not helping right now. The 30-year fixed averaged 7.40% as of October 8, 2026, up from 7.28% the week before, according to Freddie Mac's weekly rate survey. That affects your monthly payment and your ceiling. But it has not stopped financed buyers from winning homes here. The typical financed sale in this market closed at 100.7% of asking. Being prepared matters more than being flush.