House flipping in NWA metro hit an all-time high in 2019

House flippers in Northwest Arkansas saw a smaller profit margin in 2019, but the flipping activity is at an all-time high, according to a new report by Attom Data Solutions.

NWA house flippers made an average of $46,650 per sale — down from $55,000 in 2018. That compares to national profit numbers in 2019 of $62,900 — down from $65,000 in 2018 and $66,899 in 2017.

“Home-flipping profits across the U.S. dropped again in 2019 as the business of buying and selling houses absorbed its worst year since the housing market was mired in the fallout from the Great Recession,” Attom Data’s Todd Teta said in the report. “This happened as the cost of buying properties continued to rise faster than gains on resale.

“That’s not to say that the home-flipping industry is tanking or losing its allure for investors because home flipping rates are higher than they’ve been in eight years,” he said. “But profits did continue to decline again for investors.”

Despite the rising cost of home prices in Northwest Arkansas, investors are still finding undervalued properties to be fixed up and resold.

For all of last year, there were an estimated 518 home flips in the Northwest Arkansas metro. That’s up 8.5% from 2018, and a peak year, according to the Attom data going back to 2011. To count in the numbers, a house had to be purchased and resold during 12 months with an arms-length transaction. Metro areas qualified for the report if they had a population of at least 200,000 and at least 100 home flips in 2019.

The average flip house in Northwest Arkansas sold for $182,900 and took 183 days to turn over. That compares with a national average of $217,900 and 178. Home flips accounted for 5.9% of home sales in the region last year.

Nationwide, last year was the best market for house flippers in eight years, according to Attom.

Across the country, 245,864 single-family homes and condos were flipped in 2019, up 2% from 2018 to the highest point since 2006, Attom Data Solutions said.

The number of homes flipped in 2019 represented 6.2% of all home sales in the nation during the year, an eight-year high. That was up from 5.8% of all home sales in 2018 and from 5.7% in 2017.

Home flips as a portion of all home sales increased from 2018 to 2019 in 122 of the 190 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) analyzed in the report (64.2%).

One of the largest annual increases in the home flipping rate was in the Fort Smith metro, up 43.2%. That’s the fourth-largest increase in the country among MSAs analyzed in the report. For all of last year, there were 308 home flips in Fort Smith, also an all-time high, according to the Attom data.

The average flipped house in the Fort Smith metro sold for $113,000 and took 163 days to turn over. Home flips accounted for 7.7% of home sales in the region last year.

Fort Smith house flippers made an average of $42,050 last year — down from $53,450 in 2018.

At the state level, Arkansans flipped 2,484 houses last year, up 20% from 2018.