Home flipping just reached a 10-year high, according the 2016 Year-End U.S. Home Flipping Report by ATTOM Data Solutions, a fused property database.
The new report shows 193,009 single family homes and condos were flipped, or sold in an arms-length transfer for the second time in a 12-month period, in 2016. This is an increase of 3.1% from 2015 to the highest level since 2006.
“Home flipping was hot in 2016, fueled by low inventory of homes in sellable or rentable condition along with a flood of capital — both foreign and domestic — searching for the returns and stability available with U.S. real estate,” ATTOM senior vice president Daren Blomquist said. “The combination of more home flips and a greater share of financing for flip purchases resulted in a 19% jump in the estimated dollar volume of financing for home flip purchases, up to $12.2 billion for the flips completed in 2016 — a nine-year high.”
Home flips accounted for 5.7% of all single-family home sales during the year, up from 5.5% last year to a three-year high. However, it is still well below the 2005 peak of 8.2%.
And now, more investors are entering the market as the number of individuals and institutions that flipped homes in 2016 increased 1% from last year to the highest number since 2007.
“Investors in search of flipping returns are increasingly willing to move to secondary and tertiary housing markets and neighborhoods with older, smaller properties that are available at a deeper discount,” Blomquist continued. “Given that many of these markets are more affordable, we are also seeing a higher share of the flipped homes sold to FHA buyers, with that share reaching a four-year high of 19.6% in 2016.”
And it’s no wonder more investors are joining the home flipping market. The average home flipped sells at $189,900, a gross profit of $62,624. This is a 49.2% return on investment, an all new high for the report which dates back to 2000.
