Variable Home Equity Falls to Lowest Level Since Deep Down—Except for These 5 Bargain Metros
Home turnover hit a wall in 2025 with resale profits falling to their lowest levels in nearly 20 years, a victim of a high-cost, high-interest market.
The number of single-family homes and condominiums flipped nationwide last year fell nearly 4% from 2024, to 297,045, marking the lowest number of flips since 2020, according to the latest data from ATTOM, a provider of real estate data and analytics.
Notably, as average home sales prices peaked last year, the average investor saw their net profit—the difference between the average resale price and the average price originally paid—shrink to just $65,981, down from $77,000 the year before.
That represents a 25.5% return on investment (ROI), the lowest rate recorded since 2008, when the US was in the midst of the global financial crisis.
In the decade following the Great Depression, home flipping was all the rage, with the average buyer spending less than $150,000 on a property and then reselling it for $225,000 or more.
But much has changed since the housing boom years, with both borrowing costs and home values rising after the pandemic.
“Competition for housing remains strong in many markets due to the lack of resources,” he said Rob BarberCEO of ATTOM. “As prices remain high, investors are finding it difficult to find deals that deliver strong returns.”
Another thing that changed was the choice of home buyers in the 2025 mortgage rate area.
Realtor.com® research shows that house hunters are not as interested in flipped homes now as they were in 2021, when prices were near record lows.
“Affordability is what drives people out of the market, so they don’t react as much to paying for a house that someone else chooses to get rid of,” said Realtor.com’s chief economist. Joel Berner. “They prefer to buy fixer-uppers and put in sweat equity.”
For investors, these changes mean they have to get more creative to maintain profitability.
“That would include taking older homes, as the 2025 facility was built in 1978, the oldest since we started tracking, and strict cost controls and ethical repair strategies,” Barber said.
Home of hot spots and dead spots
The home turnover rate, as a share of total sales, decreased year over year in 142 of the 215 metros with a population of at least 200,000 and at least 100 households in 2025 analyzed by ATTOM.
Salisbury, MD, experienced the sharpest decline, with the county’s municipal home foreclosure rate dropping more than 42% compared to 2024, followed by Tallahassee, FL (-37.5%); Lafayette, IN (-36%); Evansville, IN (-32.9%); and Warner Robins, GA (-32.6%).
However, a third of the metros cited in the report saw an increase in the home ownership rate, with the largest gains recorded in Binghamton, NY (up 126.4% from 2024); Boulder, CO (+72.4%); Greeley, CO (+49.4%); Lexington, KY (40.3%); and Scranton, PA (+31.2%).
Low-cost profit centers
Return on investment has declined annually in 70% of metros studied by ATTOM researchers. However, a few budget-friendly markets spread throughout the South and Midwest stand out as offering significant increases in profit margins.
Peoria, IL, was leading the way, with average profitability increasing from 61.2% in 2024 to 91.4% last year.
For context, the median listing price in Peoria, home of Caterpillar Inc. located 100 miles from Chicago, in December 2025 it was just $159,900, less than half the national median.
In Huntington, WV, savvy flippers saw profit rates jump from 50.6% to 77% in just one year.
Lake Charles, LA, saw the third largest increase in ROI, from 121.3% in 2024 to 146.2% in 2025.
Cedar Rapids, IA, ranked fourth, with average profitability increasing from 29.7% to 49.6%, followed by Tuscaloosa, AL, with ROI growth of more than 17 percent, to 26.4%.
“Those metros where restoration has improved are more affordable, so flippers can get in with less money up front and end up with affordable inventory for buyers on a budget,” Berner said. “Metros with higher costs have less room for return on investment.”
