Dive Brief:
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Fewer investors are buying homes with the intention of reselling them within a year, a third-quarter report from RealtyTrac showed on Thursday.
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About 4% of single-family homes were flipped over the summer, the lowest level since 2009. Flips are down from 4.6% in the second quarter of this year and 5.6% in the third quarter of 2013.
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However, the average gross profit per flip is at a record high $75,990.
Dive Insight:
Investors started backing away from the market once home prices stopped escalating at a fever pitch and deeply discounted distressed and foreclosed properties became harder to find. Still, a flipping rate of 4% is the “historic norm,” RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said.
Instead of buying new homes to flip, more investors are buying older homes in established neighborhoods and fixing them up before reselling them. The hot spots for investors hoping to make a quick profit: Miami, Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York and Tampa.