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IRVINE, CA—The amount of time it takes to flip a home is decreasing, according to a report from RealtyTrac. The firm says flips completed in the third quarter took an average of 185 days to complete, down slightly from 187 days in the previous quarter, but up from an average of 133 days for flips completed in the third quarter of 2013.

As GlobeSt.com reported last week, 26,947 single-family homes were flipped nationwide in the third quarter of this year, representing 4% of US single-family home sales, down from 4.6% in the second quarter and down from 5.6% in the third quarter of 2013 to the lowest level since the second quarter of 2009. Flipping is defined as a situation whereby a home is purchased and subsequently sold again within 12 months.

Despite the decrease in home flips, profits from flipping are rising, according to RealtyTrac. Investors averaged a gross profit of $75,990 per flip on homes flipped in the third quarter, a 36% gross return on the initial investment—not including rehab costs and other expenses. The average gross return was up from 35% in the second quarter but down from 37% a year ago.

Daren Blomquist, VP of RealtyTrac, tells GlobeSt.com, “The factors that most impact the days to flip are supply and demand, along with the size and extent of the rehab being done on a home. There is more inventory on the market in general this year than there was a year ago, so flippers have more competition when listing their homes for sale. This will extend out the time it takes to get a listing sold. Earlier this year, we were seeing a trend toward higher-end home flipping, which tends to take longer because of more extensive rehab, but we saw flippers back off the high-end flips in the third quarter, and that is most likely the reason for the slight decrease in average time to flip from the second quarter to the third quarter.”

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