The rising price of homes is squeezing the profits to be made from home flipping, a new report from ATTOM shows. In 2Q 2025, the typical return on a flipped home was 25.1% -- the lowest profit margin recorded by the company in 17 years.
At the same time, the median purchase price paid by investors hit its highest level in 25 years at $259,700 and sold for $325,000, netting $65,000 in gross profits, representing a 13.6% drop year-over-year.
In contrast, flips in fall 2012 generated a 62.9% return on investment before expenses.
"The initial buy-in for properties that are ideal for flipping, often lower priced homes that may need some work, keeps going up," said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. "As prospective homeowners get priced out of the middle and high end of the market, they're more likely to be competing with flippers over the same homes."
In 2Q 2025, 78,621 single-family homes and condominiums were flipped, representing 7.4% of all home sales in the quarter – down from 8.3% of all homes in the first quarter, but a trend typical for the season.
Sales of flipped homes as a percentage of all home sales were down in 158 (86.3%) of the 183 metros ATTOM tracked. Home flips represented the largest share of total sales in the second quarter in four Georgia cities: Warner-Robins, Macon, Atlanta and Columbus, as well as in Memphis, TN. Of the 20 counties with the highest flipping rates, 13 were in Georgia. Rates were also high in large metros like Birmingham and two cities in Ohio: Cleveland and Columbus.
Major cities with low flipping rates included Seattle, New Orleans, Boston, Portland, OR and Honolulu.
Profit margins declined quarter-over-quarter in 107 (58%) of the metros tracked and fell year-over-year in 70%. Many of the declines were significant: from 76.3% to 13.1% in Fort Smith, AR, from 70.1% to 19.3% in Green Bay and from 27% to 2.9% in Hilton Head Island.
Metros with populations over one million that saw profit margins slump included Virginia Beach, Orlando, Grand Rapids, Jacksonville and Milwaukee.
However, 26.2% of the nation’s metros enjoyed profit margins of 50% or higher, including Pittsburgh, Shreveport, Scranton, Kalamazoo and Buffalo. In some cities, including New Orleans, Baltimore and Memphis, the margins were over 70%.
According to ATTOM, the sweet spot for buyers who want to flip a home is in the $100,000 to $200,000 range, yielding a typical profit margin of 37%. The margin for homes between $200,000 and $300,000 was 27% and 22% for homes between $300,000 and $400,000.
In the second quarter, almost two-thirds (62.6%) of flipped homes were bought for all cash, especially in Tuscaloosa, Youngstown, Flint, Toledo and Buffalo.
In the second quarter, it also took longer to sell a flipped home – 165 days compared to 163 in 1Q 2025. Buyers with Federal Housing Administration loans accounted for 11.2% of sales.
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