Despite record home prices, house flipping activity slowed last year as investors faced tightening margins and returns falling to 25.5%, the lowest level since the Great Recession, according to ATTOM’s 2025 year-end U.S. Home Flipping Report.
ATTOM stated that flips accounted for a smaller share of overall sales, and profits declined across most markets, indicating a more challenging environment driven by high acquisition costs and intense competition. The firm said that investors are adjusting strategies, often taking on older properties while accepting more modest returns.
The report shows that 297,045 single-family homes and condos were flipped nationwide in 2025. That was the fewest home flips recorded in a year since 2020, and down 3.9% from 2024’s total of 309,050. Homes flipped by investors accounted for 7.4% of all home sales in 2025. That’s down slightly from 7.6% the year prior.
“Competition for homes remains strong in many markets due to constrained supply,” ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said. “With prices staying elevated, investors are finding it harder to secure deals that deliver strong returns.”
“Flippers are having to get more creative to maintain profitability,” he added. “That could include taking on older homes, as the median flipped property in 2025 was built in 1978, the oldest since we began tracking, along with tighter cost control and more disciplined renovation strategies.”
Lowest ROI Since 2008
ATTOM noted that as the nation saw its highest median home sales prices on record, Investors’ profit margins shrank. It said that the typical flipped home netted $65,981 in gross profit, down from $77,000 in 2024. That resulted in a 25.5% return on investment, the lowest rate recorded since 2008 and down from 32.1% the previous year, ATTOM said.
Flippers experienced a boom decade after the 2008 financial crisis, according to ATTOM, and typical flipped homes were acquired for less than $150,000, with profit margins consistently exceeding 50 percent, even reaching 61.1% in 2012.
Home prices have soared in recent years, however, bringing investor returns back to their pre-financial crisis levels.
The home flipping rate, as a percentage of overall sales, fell year-over-year in two-thirds (142) of the 215 metropolitan statistical areas with sufficient data to analyze, ATTOM said. That means they had populations of at least 200,000 and at least 100 home flips in 2025.
Where were the largest declines?
That would be in Salisbury, Maryland (down 42.2% from 2024); Tallahassee, Florida (down 37.5%); Lafayette, Indiana (down 36%); Evansville, Indiana (down 32.9%); and Warner Robins, Georgia (down 32.6%).
Biggest Increases
Meanwhile, the metros that saw the biggest increases in home flipping rates were Binghampton, New York (up 136.4% from 2024); Boulder, Colorado (up 72.4%); Greeley, Colorado (up 49.4%); Lexington, Kentucky (up 40.3%); and Scranton, Pennsylvania (up 31.2%).
ATTOM reported that the share of flipped homes that investors acquired with the help of financing rose from 36.9% in 2024 to 37.7% in 2025.
The metros with the highest share of flipped homes bought by investors with the help of financing were San Diego, California (61.3% of flipped homes purchased with the help of financing); Lincoln, Nebraska (60.6%); Des Moines, Iowa (59.9%); Seattle, Washington (58.9%); and Manchester, New Hampshire (55.6%).
ATTOM said that the metros with the highest share of flipped homes bought with cash were St. Cloud, Minnesota (94.3%); Utica, New York (89.8%); Ocala, Florida (84.5%); Flint, Michigan (82%); and Buffalo, New York (80.4%).
Also, ATTOM’s study showed that profit margins have fallen precipitously since 2012, when the typical flip netted a 61.1% return on investment.
Last year, a typical median flipped home was bought for $259,019, and the median flipped price was $325,000, generating a 25.5% gross return on investment. Profit margins fell year-over-year in 70% (150) of the 215 metro areas with sufficient data to analyze.
Biggest Drops
The biggest drops in typical profit margins were in Ocala, Florida (down from 492.5% in 2024 to 124.1% in 2025); Salisbury, Maryland (down from 107% to 38.2%t); Spartanburg, South Carolina (down from 94.1% to 48.4%); Erie, Pennsylvania (down from 99.9% to 56.5%); and Little Rock, Arkansas (down from 91.6%to 50%).
ATTOM noted that the largest increases in profit margins were in Peoria, Illinois (up from 61.2% in 2024 to 91.4% in 2025); Huntington, West Virginia (up from 50.6% to 77.2%); Lake Charles, Louisiana (up from 121.3% to 146.2%); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (up from 29.7% to 49.6%); and Tuscaloosa, Alabama (up from 9.3% to 26.4%).
Among metro areas with populations of at least 1 million, ATTOM said that the largest profit margin drops were in Louisville, Kentucky (down from 66.6% in 2024 to 40.2% in 2025); Oklahoma City (down from 60.8% to 36.8%); Rochester, New York (down from 82.9% to 61.3%); Washington, D.C. (down from 62.9% to 44.3%); and Cincinnati, Ohio (down from 58.2% to 39.6%).
ATTOM reported that the average home flipped in 2025 took 163 days to sell from the time it was bought, one day longer than 2024’s average but nearly two weeks faster than in 2020 when the average home was flipped in 176 days.
The firm also said that 11.3% of flipped homes across the nation were sold to buyers using loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, up slightly from 10.7% in 2024.
The metros with the highest rate of flipped homes sold to FHA-assisted buyers were Yuma, Arizona (37.7%); Mobile, Alabama (30%); Laredo, Texas (29.8%); Visalia, California (27.6%); and Vallejo, California (27.4%).
Flipped homes accounted for more than a tenth of all home sales in 11.9% (101) of the 851 counties in ATTOM’s analysis with at least 50 home flips in 2025. The counties with the highest flipping rates were Cobb County, Georgia (19.6%); Clayton County, Georgia (19.5%); Houston County, Georgia (16.1%); Rockdale County, Georgia (16%); and Bibb County, Georgia (15.9%).
