🛠️ House Flipping in 2025: Profits Shrink, Risks Rise — Is It Still Worth It?
There’s good news and bad news for today’s house flippers.
The good news? Despite high interest rates and cautious buyers, it’s still possible to make a living flipping homes.
The bad news? Profit margins are tighter than ever, and good deals are getting harder to find.
According to ATTOM’s Q1 2025 U.S. Home Flipping Report, investors need to flip more properties than before to make the same income they did when mortgage rates were low and home prices were surging.
📊 Flipping Still Strong — But Margins Are Shrinking
In the first quarter of 2025, flips made up 8.3% of all U.S. home sales, totaling nearly 67,400 single-family homes and condos. That’s up slightly from 7.4% in the previous quarter but down from 8.7% a year ago.
The challenge? High purchase prices and a market that’s lost its red-hot momentum. ATTOM reports the typical investor paid $260,000 for a flip and sold it for $325,000, walking away with a net profit of $65,000–$70,000 after expenses.
Rob Barber, ATTOM CEO, explains:
“High prices help when selling, but they make it harder to buy undervalued homes. If the market cools before you sell, profits can evaporate fast.”
📉 Two-Thirds of Major Markets See Flipping Decline
ATTOM’s deep dive into 173 metro areas shows clear trends:
✅ Some Southern cities are still flipping hot spots — especially Georgia and parts of the Midwest.
✅ Larger metro areas are seeing fewer flips and lower ROI.
Top Flipping Cities (% of all home sales in Q1 2025):
Macon, GA: 21%
Warner Robins, GA: 20.6%
Atlanta, GA: 15.9%
Memphis, TN: 14.7%
Akron, OH: 13.3%
Big cities over 1 million with notable flipping activity:
Birmingham, AL: 12.8%
Kansas City, MO: 11.6%
Salt Lake City, UT: 11.1%
⚠️ Where Flipping Has Fallen Off a Cliff
Some markets that were once flip-friendly have cooled dramatically:
Honolulu: 4.7%
New Orleans: 4.9%
Seattle: 5.5%
Pittsburgh: 5.9%
Portland, OR: 6.1%
And the ROI drops in certain Southern cities are eye-opening:
Spartanburg, SC: ROI fell from 160% → 31%
Ocala, FL: ROI fell from 125% → 50%
Lynchburg, VA: ROI fell from 69% → 31%
Johnson City, TN: ROI fell from 82% → 44%
Major cities like Fresno and New York also saw profits slip by 10–15 percentage points.
🏠 Low-Cost Markets Are the Silver Lining
So where are flippers still seeing healthy returns? Affordable markets.
ATTOM found that homes purchased for under $225,000 delivered the highest median ROI (46.4%).
When flip prices climb:
$225k–$400k → ROI drops to 22%
Over $400k → ROI shrinks to just 19%
Big, expensive flips often run over budget and over timeline, eating into profits even more.
💵 Cash Is King in 2025
With high borrowing costs, more flippers are skipping loans altogether:
62% of Q1 flips were all-cash purchases.
Cities with the highest all-cash flip rates include:
Rockford, IL: 81.6%
Toledo, OH: 81.2%
Buffalo, NY: 81.2%
Cape Coral, FL: 81.1%
Naples, FL: 81.1%
🧐 Should You Flip in 2025?
If you’re new, cautious, or underfunded — this might not be the year to dive in.
Flipping today means:
More time hunting for good deals
Higher risk if prices soften
More capital needed to weather longer hold times
But if you’re experienced, well-funded, and focused on lower-cost markets, opportunities still exist — especially if you can buy at a deep discount and sell quickly.
🔑 Final Takeaway
House flipping in 2025 demands grit, cash reserves, and the patience to hunt for value where others aren’t looking.
If you can’t do that, it might be smarter to wait for market conditions to shift — because when they do, the next wave of profitable flips will come roaring back.
📌 Analyze Better, Flip Smarter
Want to find your next flip without endless spreadsheets? Try BiggerDeals — see listings with built-in cash flow and ROI metrics in seconds.
➡️ Ready to flip? Do your homework, know your numbers, and protect your profit.