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Home flipping is increasing in popularity in Boston in a big way, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions that analyzed American metro areas of over 1 million people.
Boston saw the biggest increase in flipping at 33.3 percent, according to the report, followed by Tucson, Arizona (up 27.3 percent); Raleigh, North Carolina (up 24.5 percent); Columbus, Ohio (up 13.1 percent) and Hartford, Connecticut (up 12.8 percent). The report did not identify the average or median prices of flipped properties.
ATTOM analyzed sales deed data to identify flipped properties. The firm defined a single-family home or condominium flip as any transaction that occurred in the year where a previous sale on the same property had occurred within the last 12 months.
Nationwide, 207,957 single-family homes and condos were flipped in 2018, down 4 percent from the 216,537 home flips in 2017. The 207,957 homes flipped in 2018 represented 5.6 percent of all single-family home and condo sales during the year, stagnant from 5.6 percent of all sales in 2017 but up from 5.1 percent of all sales in 2008. The total dollar volume of financed home flip purchases was $19.9 billion for homes flipped in 2018, up 8 percent from $18.5 billion in 2017 to the highest level since 2007 – an 11-year high.
Flipped homes originally purchased by the investor with financing represented 39.1 percent of homes flipped in 2018, down from 39.4 percent in 2017 and down from 41 percent in 2008. Of the homes flipped in 2018, 13.8 percent were sold to FHA borrowers – likely first-time homebuyers – down from 17 percent in 2017 to an 11-year low.
“With mortgage rates remaining strong and people staying in their homes longer, we have started to see a bit of a flipping rate slowdown,” Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM Data Solutions, said in a statement. “However, this isn’t to say home flipping is going away. The market is still ripe with investors flipping and bargains still await, especially in the lowest-priced areas of the country, where levels of financial distress remain highest.”
Other major markets in the top 10 for biggest increase in home flipping rate in 2018 were New York, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Grand Rapids, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
While 20 out of America’s 53 metro areas with at least 1 million people saw an increase in the home flipping rate in 2018, those that saw a decrease, included Kansas City, Missouri (down 25.2 percent); Buffalo, New York (down 17.5 percent); Indianapolis, Indiana (down 16.3 percent); Seattle, Washington (down 15.9 percent) and Salt Lake City, Utah (down 14.0 percent).
Among 53 metro areas analyzed in the report with at least 1 million people, those with the highest home flipping rate in 2018 were Memphis, Tennessee (11.7 percent); Phoenix, Arizona (9.1 percent); Las Vegas, Nevada (8.7 percent); Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida (8.2 percent) and Birmingham, Alabama (7.6 percent).
