The competitive housing market in South Florida — where investors stay busy scooping up properties — is taking a top ranking for attracting all-cash homebuying, a new study shows.

The analysis, released Tuesday by real estate brokerage firm Redfin, shows several parts of Florida recorded the highest share of cash purchases in 2024. The metropolitan areas around West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami placed in the top five when compared to other areas in the U.S.

“That’s par for the course,” said Jonathan Lickstein, president of Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors, of cash sales. “The American dream is to retire in Florida.”

He credited the cash buying to investors who like having a range of property-buying options, which includes buying distressed properties, as well as vacation rentals. “There’s always an appetite for investment in South Florida,” he said.

Then there are the international buyers who consider the region “a safe place to put your money.”

His association’s studies show that Colombians were the dominant international buyers in Broward in 2024, with 22% of international buyers from that location. In Miami-Dade, 21% of the international buyers are from Argentina. In Palm Beach County, 25% of international buyers are Canadian.

Lickstein said there’s a third category, too: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have relocated to Florida during the past five years. He said that includes people coming from the Northeast, whose homes are valued “way higher.” They are “cashing out their property values up North, having enough money to buy a property in cash, they are able to cover the entire purchase.

“What gets you a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan gets you a four-five bedroom house down here, it gets you an estate in South Florida with land.”

According to Redfin, West Palm Beach drew the highest number of cash buyers in the state, where just under half (49.6%) of home purchases were made in cash in 2024.

Still, the numbers are dipping slightly. The number of all-cash home sales dropped to its lowest level in at least a decade in 2024 as total home sales fell to historic lows.

In Fort Lauderdale, for example, 38.9% of buyers were paying cash in 2024, which is 6% lower than in 2023, according to Redfin.

Redfin senior economist Sheharyar Bokhari said in a prepared statement that one reason the number of cash purchases fell was because investors — who make up a significant proportion of all-cash buyers — bought fewer homes than they did during the past few years.

“The rate of all-cash sales remains high because when housing is expensive — like it is now — wealthier Americans who can afford to pay cash are more likely than lower-income Americans to be buying homes,” Bokhari said in the statement. “We are unlikely to see the share of all-cash purchases fall much lower in 2025, unless mortgage rates drop enough to drive a significant increase in sales.”

Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said rents are flat right now in Florida, mirroring nationwide trends, which could explain why some investors had been backing off in 2024.

For others, it could be financial strategy, she said, and figuring out how to get into the real estate market and pay themselves back later.

“For people who have that much money in the stock market or just cash … they are looking how high interest rates are, (and saying) ‘I’ll pay cash now, when interest rates come down I’ll refinance. It’s not a good enough deal to borrow money with,’” Fairweather said.

Sal Messina, a Realtor in the Keyes Palm Beach Gardens Office, said he has some clients now searching for property in Broward and West Palm Beach — and ready to pay cash.

He said “some people who have been sitting on cash for awhile” are jumping into it now because it’s a buyer’s market. Their homes “are more expensive in New York City, and they have the cash on hand to be able to purchase down here.”

He said they want to buy before interest rates are lowered, which means home prices could go up and there would be more competition among buyers.

Property appraiser records show the median home sale in the fourth quarter of 2024 was $695,000 in Palm Beach County, and $644,900 in the same time period in Broward County.

Realtor David Gordon specializes in Fort Lauderdale sales. He has seen the kinds of people who are paying in cash tend to be snowbirds from other states or international buyers “who want to invest in the United States and they want to invest in a place that’s warm. You’re not seeing the everyday people, regular people, paying over $400,000 in cash for a single-family home. It’s not happening.”

His predictions for 2025 is sales could slow. He blames the ongoing property insurance crisis, which leaves homeowners with fewer options and high costs. “People would rather rent and have other people pay that insurance,” he said.

Expensive coastal metropolitan areas had the lowest share of all-cash buyers, led by San Jose, Calif., where only 18.1% of home purchases were made in cash. Next came Oakland, Calif. (18.6%), Seattle (20.6%), Virginia Beach, Virginia (21.9%) and Los Angeles (22.2%), according to the study.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at [email protected]. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash