[quote=exsdgal][quote=CA renter]
Housing — 43% of the sales in Q1 2014 going to “all cash” buyers (though not using traditional mortgages, they can still be highly leveraged). The fact that so many are buying “all cash” says to me that speculators are heavily in the market, even though some of the institutional speculators have been pulling out.
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From where do these buyers get their cash? I do not see banks giving out any of the easy loans. Just curious….[/quote]

Some are foreign investors who think the dollar is safer than their own currency and/or want to move money out of their own country for various reasons. Others are investors/managers/funds who are managing pooled investments from a variety of people and/or institutions. There are a lot of mega-millionaires and billionaires out there on a global level. That money goes wherever it’s perceived to be the safest and where it’s likely to yield the best returns. Whether it’s true or not, many people seem to think that the United States — and the USD — will give them the best return for the lowest possible risk.

I’ve mentioned a deep-pocketed investor who was looking for large blocks of REOs, but who was not well-connected here. That was all Chinese money, and they had ~$2 billion at their disposal. I’ve heard that there are Russians doing the same thing, especially on the east coast. And there are a fair number of investors from Latin America, too. Of course, we have our own wealthy folks who are desperately looking for a place to earn a yield, too.