About 1 of every 12 single-family homes and condominiums sold in the U.S. between January and March were from home flippers, according to a report released Wednesday by Attom. This continues a five-year trend of declining profits for home flippers.
The first-quarter share of home flipping rose to 8.3% from 7.4% in the fourth quarter of 2024. But it was still slightly lower than the same time last year, when flips accounted for 8.7% of all sales, the report stated.
The 67,394 homes and condos flipped nationwide in the first quarter marked the lowest number in any quarter since 2018.
Returns have also been falling, with the typical flipped home netting a 25% return on investment (before expenses) in the first quarter of 2025. That was down from 28% in the previous quarter and continued a gradual decline from the recent high of 48.8% in the fall of 2020.
“The competitive home market means high prices, which is good for short-term investors on the selling end,” stated Attom CEO Rob Barber in the report. “But that dynamic is also making it harder to find underpriced homes to buy up and it’s ultimately squeezing profit margins for the industry.”
Of the 173 metro areas with sufficient data to analyze, 132 experienced quarterly gains. Among those, home flippers accounted for the biggest share of sales in Macon, Ga. (flips compromised 21% of all home sales); Warner Robins, Ga. (20.6%); Atlanta (15.9%); Memphis, Tenn. (14.7%); and Akron, Ohio (13.3%). Other high-ratio flipping metro areas with populations over 1 million were Birmingham, Ala. (12.8%); Kansas City, Mo. (11.6%); and Salt Lake City (11.1%).
Of those biggest metro areas, the smallest proportion of flips was in Honolulu (4.7%); New Orleans (4.9%); Seattle (5.5%); Pittsburgh (5.9%); and Portland, Ore. (6.1%).
For a typical flipped home, the difference in gross profits between the median purchase and median resale prices was $65,000 in the first quarter, down from $70,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024. The typical investor paid $260,000 for a home they flipped in the first quarter of 2025 and sold the property for $325,000.
“It’s tricky to balance at times when the market looks like it could take a downturn,” Barber added. “Investors don’t want to buy a property when prices are high and then see them drop before they’re ready to sell.”
