The proportion of homes bought with cash has hit an all-time low as the number of investors acquiring property continues to fall, new research has revealed. 

The latest Land Registry data shows that 28% of buyers were cash-only in the first half of 2019, with less than a quarter of – 24% of proportion being investors, which includes buy-to-let landlords.

This is significantly lower than the peak of 36% recorded adecade ago. 

London was perhaps unsurprisingly, given the high cost of buying property, home to the lowest proportion of cash purchasers, at 19%. The average price of buying a property outright in the capital was £489,820.

The South West saw the highest number of cash buyers in the first half of the year, with 34% of property acquired outright. The average cash purchase price in the South West was £250,830,

Some 32% of cash purchases in Wales were secured by cash buyers, while this dropped slightly to 31% in the North East. The average cash purchase prices in these regions were £156,240 and £116,610, respectively.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International, commented: “The fall in cash purchases not only reflects tighter affordability, but also a decrease in activity amongst downsizers, the group of people most likely to have built up enough equity to purchase property with cash.

“It also reflects a drop off in the number of homes bought by investors, many of whom used cash to purchase their properties.”