Home Flipping is Hot Again

Home flipping zoomed to a six-year high in the second quarter of 2016, as more investors eyed properties to spruce up and turn over for a quick resale.

Read more: Beware of the Flip

A total of 51,434 single-family homes and condo sales were completed flips in the second quarter of this year, up 14 percent from the previous quarter and up 3 percent from a year ago. It is the highest number of home flips since the second quarter of 2010, according to the Q2 2016 U.S. Home Flipping Report, released by ATTOM Data Solutions.

“Home flipping is becoming more accessible for smaller operators thanks to an increasingly competitive lending environment with more loan options for real estate investors, who are also benefiting from the historically low mortgage interest rates,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. “That favorable lending environment for flippers has helped to fuel the recent flipping frenzy we’ve seen over the past five quarters.”

Homes flipped in the second quarter accounted for 5.5 percent of all single-family and condo sales. A total of 39,775 investors (both individuals or institutions) completed at least one home flip during the quarter, the highest number of home flippers since the second quarter of 2007, the report showed.

“We’re starting to see home flipping hit some milestones not seen since prior to the financial crisis, which is somewhat concerning, but there are a couple of important differences in the home flipping of 2016 compared to 2006 when home flipping peaked during the last housing boom,” Blomquist says. “First, home flippers are realizing a much bigger gross ROI in 2016, averaging 49 percent in the first two quarters compared to an average gross ROI of just 27 percent in 2006. Second, while an increasing number of flippers are financing their purchases, more than two-thirds are still using cash to purchase compared to about one-third using cash to purchase back in 2006.”

Homes that were flipped in the second quarter took an average of 185 days to flip, up from 182 days a year ago. The metro areas that had the longest average times to flip properties were Ogden-Clearfield, Utah (229 days); Naples, Fla. (222 days); Punta Gorda, Fla. (212 days); Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla. (206 days); and Pensacola, Fla. (206 days), according to the report.

Overall, the following 10 markets had the highest flipping rates in the nation:

1. Memphis: 11.1%
2. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.: 10.1%
3. Tampa, Fla.: 10%
4. York-Hanover, Pa.: 9.7%
5. Mobile, Ala.: 9.6%
6. Fresno, Calif.: 9.5%
7. Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla.: 9.5%
8. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla.: 9.4%
9. Clarksville, Tenn.: 9.3%
10. Miami: 8.6%

Source: RealtyTrac