By now almost everyone has heard, Bozeman’s Real Estate market is continuing its strength. The shortage of inventory has left many buyers frustrated and often in multiple offer situations. In a multiple offer situation, cash is usually king. As I have done in years past, I thought it prudent to compare the percentage of cash sales over the years.

Comparing this year to last, overall sales numbers are actually fairly similar, with 347 homes sold in the first 5 months this year compared to 377 homes last year. The median sold price edged up from $370,900 for the first 5 months in 2016 to $390,000 for the same time period this year.

Looking at cash only transactions, for sales of single family homes in all of Bozeman between January 1st and June 1st of 2016; 90 out of the 377 of homes sold were purchased with cash. That is approximately 23.9% of the sales. This nudged down slightly this year to 74 out of 347 sales, or 21.3%. Even though it edges slightly up and down over the years, the percentage of sales is actually fairly consistent. In 2015, 85 of the 371 sales during the first 5 months were cash, or 22.9%. In 2014, it was 70 of the 318 sales, or 22%. In 2013, 61 of the 276 sales, or 22.1% were cash, and in 2012, 45 of 237 were cash, or 18.9%.

Buyers that don’t have cash that end up in multiple offer situations can still try to be competitive. At the end of the day, most people still prefer more money in their pocket, so there’s a good chance that a higher offer with financing could beat out a lower offer with cash, but not always. Buyers can also do their best to make their offer as attractive as possible by closely analyzing their contingencies and all the terms of their offer. While it can certainly be risky, some buyers are choosing to forgo inspections as an attempt to make their offer more competitive.

As usual, I have included data for the number of single family homes sold during the first five months of 2017. In addition to the 347 single family homes sold during this time period, another 218 homes are currently pending, or under contract, as of the date of writing this article.

The included data reflects sales of homes in the greater Bozeman area, including Four Corners, Gallatin Gateway, Bridger Canyon, and Bozeman city limits. The data includes home sales reported through the local Southwest Montana MLS, and does not include private party sales, Condominiums, or Townhouses.