TAMPA — The Tampa metro area is on track to reach an eight-year high in home sales in 2015, according to RealtyTrac, which released its August Home Sales Report today.

The Tampa region also ranked in the top five of metro areas with the highest cash sales, highest share of institutional investor purchases and in distressed sales.

Nationwide, more than 1.9 million single-family homes and condos sold through August, up 5.4 percent from the same time a year ago, the highest since 2007, when there were more than 2 million sold, according to Realty­Trac, a provider of comprehensive housing data.

“The continued strength in sales volume across a wide spectrum of markets in August indicates that shockwaves from the recent global stock market instability have not weakened the housing recovery, and in fact there is evidence that the instability has fueled more demand for U.S. real estate,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.

Single-family home and condo sales in the Tampa metro area through August were on pace for an eight-year high along with 110 other metro areas. Those metro areas include Los Angeles; Phoenix; Dallas; Denver; Riverside-San Bernardino in Southern California; Detroit; Seattle; Minneapolis; and Portland, Oregon. The Tampa metro area includes Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.

The Tampa region ranked fifth on cash sales, at 37.6 percent, in metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 1 million. Ranking ahead of Tampa were Miami (48.7 percent), New York (44.7 percent), Las Vegas (42.2 percent) and Raleigh, North Carolina, (39.6 percent).

Tampa, Jacksonville and Charlotte, North Carolina, posted the highest share of institutional investor purchases. Institutional investors are defined as entities that purchase at least 10 properties during a calendar year.

Among markets with a population of at least 1 million, those with the highest share of institutional investor purchases were Tampa (4.7 percent), Jacksonville (4.1 percent), Charlotte (3.3 percent), Buffalo, New York, (2.8 percent) and Orlando (2.7 percent).

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