Source: Realtor.com —
After binge-watching a few hours of HGTV, home flipping may seem like a good way to make some extra cash. But the shows don’t always dwell on the financial risks facing investors who jump into the game.
Home flippers flooded the real estate market last year, according to a recent report from ATTOM, a real estate data firm. But their profits fell, as the housing market corrected to the lowest levels since the Great Recession.
To come up with its findings, ATTOM looked at metropolitan areas with at least 200,000 residents and 100 home flips last year.
Flips comprised roughly 8.4% of all home sales in 2022, the highest percentage since 2005, according to ATTOM. More than 407,000 single-family homes and condos were flipped last year—up 14% from 2021 and 58% from 2020. Nearly two-thirds of flips were purchased in all-cash deals.
But returns on investment fell last year, as home prices stopped soaring to the heavens when the housing market adjusted to higher mortgage interest rates. Lower or no price growth resulted in flippers earning the smallest profit margins since 2008. The typical flip generated a gross profit of $67,900, down about 3% from the previous year. The gross profit did not include the cost of the improvements made to the home.