RealtyTrac: Is home flipping making a comeback?
Best markets for flipping to both Millennials and Baby Boomers
October 29, 2015
There were 43,197 single-family homes and condos flipped in the third quarter of 2015, according to RealtyTrac’s third quarter 2015 U.S. Home Flipping Report.
This number amounts to 5% of all single-family home and condo sales during the quarter.
Single-family home and condo flips are defined as being sold as part of an arms-length sale for the second time within a 12-month period.
On a quarterly basis, the 5% share was down 7% from a 5.4% share in the second quarter, but up 18% from a 4.3% share in the third quarter of 2014 — when the share of U.S. homes flipped hit the lowest quarterly level going back to the first quarter of 2000, the earliest RealtyTrac has data on flipped homes.
“After curtailing flipping activity last year due to slowing home price appreciation and shrinking inventory of flip-worthy homes, real estate investors have started to jump back on the flipping bandwagon in 2015,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.
“On the acquisition side, investors are finding creative ways to pinpoint potential flips in the off-market arena, and on the disposition side investors have a bigger pool of potential buyers thanks to a surge in FHA buyers this year, many of them first-time buyers looking for starter homes,” Blomquist added.
The reported added that the average gross return on investment was 33.8% for completed home flips in the third quarter, down from 34.4% in the previous quarter but up from 32.7% in the third quarter of 2014.