Realtor.com conducted a thorough analysis of fixer-uppers earlier this year. They used artificial intelligence (AI) to find properties that were being offered as projects to investors and handymen and compared their performance to other older properties for sale.
Realtor.com restricted their search to only include single-family homes for sale in October that are 20 years of age or older, purchased within the last two years, and relisted for at least 20% more than their previous sale price in order to obtain a trustworthy sample of flipped properties. Next, they verified that recent renovations were made by using an AI tool to scan the listing description.
Flipped properties and the overall population of older homes for sale do not differ significantly on a nationwide scale. Although flipped homes are typically smaller and have a higher price per square foot ($229 for flipped homes compared to $205 for the rest), the number of bedrooms and bathrooms is roughly the same, and the median listing prices are in a similar range (roughly $380K for flipped homes compared to $385K for the other older homes).
This is probably due to the fact that flips are more common in metropolitan areas. Compared to just 32.1% of the other older properties, 40.4% of the flipped homes are located in metropolitan zip codes. In terms of listing performance, flipped properties spent roughly 10 fewer days on the market and received roughly 6.5% more page views per listing on Realtor.com in October 2025.
Top 10 Affordable Markets Seeing Biggest ‘Flip Factor’ or Sought-After Price Jump Relative to the Market:
| Metro | Median Percent of Median Price Bought at | Median Percent of Median Price Listed at | Flip Factor |
| Pittsburgh | 48.1% | 106.3% | 58.2pp |
| Cleveland | 45.7% | 91.7% | 46.0pp |
| Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY | 48.4% | 94.0% | 45.5pp |
| Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL | 60.6% | 105.9% | 45.3pp |
| Birmingham, AL | 35.8% | 80.7% | 44.9pp |
| Chattanooga, TN-GA | 38.9% | 82.5% | 43.6pp |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 41.7% | 84.3% | 42.6pp |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 45.4% | 87.6% | 42.2pp |
| Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL | 48.1% | 90.0% | 41.9pp |
| Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL | 41.8% | 83.6% | 41.9pp |
Experts Offer Their Fixer-Upper Analysis
In the earlier fixer-upper study, Realtor.com hypothesized that low-cost fixer-upper listings were more appealing due to the present context of higher mortgage rates since they give buyers the chance to purchase at a lower price point and invest in interest-free sweat equity. Pre-renovation properties perform far better now than they did in 2021, when mortgage rates were significantly lower. If expert’s theory is right, post-renovation (flipped) properties should be less appealing now that mortgage rates are high since buyers must pay a higher rate to finance the worth of the renovations.
Additionally, experts anticipate that flipped homes will perform better than other older homes in 2021 than they did in 2025. Flipped properties earned 25.0% more page views per listing in October 2021 than other older properties, yet they were listed for roughly the same length of time during a period when all properties were selling far more quickly than they are now.
In the previous fixer-upper report, Realtor.com experts assumed that flipping a fixer-upper is an opportunity to effectively take a home with the lowest listed price and make it into a home with a median price. It turns out that the majority of fix-and-flip activity occurs below the median for the home metro of each flip. The median flipped house was purchased for 51.4% of the metro’s median price for single-family homes; following renovations, it is listed for 87.8% of that median (recalculated in the month of its listing).
Markets Where Flipped Homes Are Listed for Above the Market Median Price:
| Metro | Median Percent of Median Price Bought at | Median Percent of Median Price Listed at | Flip Factor |
| Pittsburgh | 48.1% | 106.3% | 58.2pp |
| Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL | 60.6% | 105.9% | 45.3pp |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 64.5% | 101.0% | 36.5pp |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | 65.7% | 100.3% | 34.5pp |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | 67.4% | 102.0% | 34.5pp |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 69.2% | 101.4% | 32.1pp |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 72.5% | 104.5% | 32.0pp |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 75.2% | 105.5% | 30.3pp |
These are big, often pricey Western areas, with the exception of Pittsburgh and Cape Coral, Florida, which were in the top 10 for Flip Factor. The only city with a Flip Factor higher than the national average is Seattle. The West has a younger housing stock that ends up being more upscale when refurbished, even though the purchase prices are greater both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the median.
Even though flipped properties receive more attention from internet buyers than other older, unrenovated homes, they are nonetheless subject to the difficulties of the current property market. Remodeled homes are actually selling at an 8.3% discount to their highest listing price in July 2025, compared to a comparable group of older homes that have sold at a 2.9% discount when we look at the flipped homes that were on the market in July 2025 and have subsequently sold.
Renovated home sellers are committing the same error as many other sellers in 2025: offering their property at a too high price and then having to lower it until it sells. The median flipped home sold for 0.9% less than its maximum advertised price, while the median unrenovated older home sold for 0.4% less, according to the same analysis conducted on flipped homes for sale in July 2021.
