ATTOM found the rate of house flipping–while still historically high–has fallen to the lowest point in two years. Per ATTOM’s third-quarter U.S. Home Flipping Report, 72,543 single-family homes and condos were flipped in the period. That’s 7.2% of all home sales nationwide, which is down from 7.9% of all sales in the second quarter, and from 7.7% in the same time last year. The rate dropped for the second straight quarter. However, for those flipping houses, investor returns increased for the third consecutive quarter. “The comeback for the home-flipping industry is looking more like a real trend than a temporary break in what had been a pretty bleak couple of years,” said Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM. “For sure, investment returns still aren’t anywhere close to where they were a couple of years ago. The latest nationwide profit margin also remains barely within the spread that covers the usual holding costs on flips, with wide variations around the country. Nevertheless, home flippers continue to head back in the right direction.”

The typical third-quarter profit margin–based on the difference between the median purchase and median resale price–was 29.8%. While that’s below 2021’s peaks, it’s up from 29% in the second quarter and up from 22.4% in Q4 2022. The typical resale price on flipped homes was $305,000, a 1.5% decline from the second quarter. But that was offset by the 2.1% dip in median prices that many home flippers saw when they purchased the properties. The average time it took from purchase to resale on flips was 161 days in the quarter, compared with 178 in the second quarter, and 165 days year-over-year.

Source: ATTOM