Is Flipping Good or Bad for the Housing Sector?

Blomquist: “Somewhat similarly to foreclosures on the negative side of home price appreciation, the market can absorb a certain level of flipping without that flipping causing prices to over-inflate and affordability to become a problem.”

IRVINE, CA—At the current level, house flipping is mostly good, but if we continue to see this upward trend for the next couple of years, we could easily be in dangerous territory for the housing market, ATTOM Data Solutions’ SVP Daren Blomquist tells GlobeSt.com. As we recently reported, home flipping, including arms-length transfers in the for-sale apartment realm, hit a 10-year high in the year just past, according to the firm, who’s 2016 Year-End US Home Flipping Report shows that 193,009 single-family homes and residential condominiums were flipped in ’16. That’s up 3.1% from 2015 and represents the highest level since 2006, when 276,067 single-family homes and condos were sold for the second time within a 12-month period.

We spoke with Blomquist about home flipping’s impact on the housing market, including prices, affordability and availability of homes for sale.