After the financial crisis, cash buyers have become a bigger part of the home buying market, according to the National Association of Realtors.
"We've seen a tremendous increase in cash buyers since the housing downturn that we haven't seen before in history," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
Cash sales currently account for 30 percent of sales, which was unheard of a decade ago when all-cash purchases were less than 10 percent of the market. The majority of these sales have come from investors who have taken advantage of low priced distressed properties.
Additionally, many international purchases have been made with cash, as NAR research showed 62 percent were all cash.
The spike in cash sales has also helped reduce the amount of time that homes stay on the market.
"Research shows a bias toward cash sales for newer and lower priced home," said Grant Ian Thrall, president of the American Real Estate Society. "Many of those sales are occurring within the first 60 days that the home is on the market, and more than half sold within the first 120 days."
One of the major factors that has been driving cash sales is tight lending restrictions, which have kept many buyers from being able to take advantage of record low mortgage rates to purchase homes at affordable prices.
