Real Estate

Home flipping comes down off 6-year high

Investors buying with cash drops to 8-year low

Amid the rising home prices and mortgage rates, home flipping came down off last quarter’s six-year high, according to the Q3 2016 U.S. Home Flipping Report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a fused property database.

A total of 5.1% of single-family and condo sales during the third quarter were home flipped, down from 5.6% last quarter.

A home flip is a house sold in an arm's length sale for the second time within a 12-month period based on publicly recorded sales deed data collected by ATTOM Data Solutions in more than 950 counties accounting for more than 80% of the U.S. population.

The number of homes flipped decreased from a six-year high of 53,892 in the second quarter this year and from 49,305 homes last year to 45,718 in the third quarter.

“While the macro trends of low housing inventory and rising home prices are favorable for flippers, they are also a double-edged sword, attracting more competition and reducing the availability of deals — particularly in the most fundamentally sound local markets,” ATTOM Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said.

“This is chasing some investors into markets and neighborhoods that may be less fundamentally sound but also offer more value-add opportunities for flippers in the form of aging housing inventory,” Blomquist said.

Of the homes flipped in the third quarter, 67.9% were purchased with cash, down from 68.2% last quarter and from 69% last year. In fact, the number of home flippers buying in cash reached its lowest level since the third quarter of 2008.

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