For the second year in a row, home-flipping activity in the United States took a hit, according to new data released by property data curator ATTOM. The company’s 2024 U.S. Home Flipping Report shows that 297,885 single-family homes and condos were flipped last year, down 7.7% from 2023 and a sharp 32.4% below the 2022 high.
Home flips represented 7.6% of all U.S. home sales in 2024, slipping from 8.1% the year before. And while investors saw a slight bump in gross profits — rising from $67,846 in 2023 to $72,000 in 2024 — profit margins remain near decade lows.
“The home-flipping industry saw investors shy away even more in 2024 amid the extended period of languishing profits,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “But even as activity waned, there was at least a glimmer of hope that returns were starting to turn around.”
Indeed, return on investment (ROI) ticked up slightly to 29.6% — up from 28.6% in 2023 and 29.4% in 2022 — but remained well below the 2016 peak of 54.2%. Margins increased modestly as resale prices rose 3%, outpacing the 2% rise in purchase prices.
Barber cautioned that 2025 will pose its own set of challenges: “This year poses significant uncertainty for investors, what with a short supply of homes for sale, declining numbers of low-priced foreclosure properties, mixed economic forecasts and elevated mortgage rates. So, they will have to do some very smart buying and quick renovating to keep the profit rebound going.”
Flipping rates declined in two-thirds (68%) of the 213 metro areas analyzed. The steepest drops were seen in the South and West, with Charlotte, N.C. (-18.5%), Jacksonville, Fla. (-16.9%), and New Orleans, La. (-16.4%) among the hardest hit.
On the flip side, some smaller markets saw flipping activity pick up. Cedar Rapids, Iowa led with a 49.6% year-over-year increase, followed by Bellingham, Wash. (+28.2%) and Warner Robins, Ga. (+26.8%).
Cash remained the dominant method of acquiring flips, accounting for 63.2% of purchases in 2024 — up slightly from 62.2% in 2023. Meanwhile, financed flips dipped to 36.8%.
In major metro areas, financing was most common in San Diego, Calif. (59%) and Seattle, Wash. (58.1%). Conversely, markets like Buffalo, N.Y. (81% cash) and Cleveland, Ohio (77.4%) leaned heavily on cash transactions.
Profit Hotspots and Soft Spots
While the national median gross profit rose slightly, local outcomes varied. High-profit metros included San Jose, Calif. ($283,000), San Francisco, Calif. ($218,000), and New York, N.Y. ($175,000). The lowest were in Texas markets such as Austin ($8,844) and San Antonio ($17,832).
ROI leaders among large metros were Pittsburgh, Penn. (110.9%), Buffalo, N.Y. (109.1%), and Baltimore, Md. (76.3%). Meanwhile, investors saw declining margins in places like Philadelphia, Penn. (down from 82.4% to 68.4%) and Hartford, Conn. (from 59% to 45.7%).
Flipping remained particularly active in Georgia, where five counties — including Houston County (23.1%) and Cobb County (22.5%) — saw flips account for over 18% of all home sales in 2024.
The average flip in 2024 took 162 days to complete — down from 169 days in 2023. In the fourth quarter, the average dropped to 157 days, despite a dip in ROI during that period to 26.5% — one of the lowest quarterly marks in the past decade.
Roughly one in nine flipped homes (10.7%) were sold to buyers using FHA loans in 2024, virtually unchanged from the year before. Cities with the highest share of FHA buyers included Merced, Calif. (38.3%) and Lakeland, Fla. (27%).
