With more than 110,000 house-flipping investors in 2015 — the highest rate since 2007 — and an average gross profit of $55,000, the personal-finance website WalletHub took an in-depth look at 2016’s Best Cities to Flip Houses.
To help serious real-estate investors find the best markets to list their flipped properties, WalletHub’s number crunchers compared the 150 largest cities based on 19 key metrics. Our metrics range from “median purchase price” to “average full home remodeling costs” to “housing-market health index.”
| Top 20 Cities for Flipping Houses | |||||
| 1 | Sioux Falls, SD | 11 | Tulsa, OK | ||
| 2 | Fort Wayne, IN | 12 | Corpus Christi, TX | ||
| 3 | El Paso, TX | 13 | Nashville, TN | ||
| 4 | Oklahoma City, OK | 14 | Peoria, AZ | ||
| 5 | Lincoln, NE | 15 | Cape Coral, FL | ||
| 6 | Lubbock, TX | 16 | Gilbert, AZ | ||
| 7 | Tampa, FL | 17 | Des Moines, IA | ||
| 8 | New Orleans, LA | 18 | Pembroke Pines, FL | ||
| 9 | Boise, ID | 19 | Springfield, MO | ||
| 10 | Laredo, TX | 20 | Grand Rapids, MI | ||
Best vs. Worst
- Pittsburgh has the highest average gross return on investment, 129.5 percent, which is 6.1 times higher than in Austin, Texas, the city with the lowest, 21.2 percent.
- Cleveland, has the lowest median purchase price, $45,000, which is 12.9 times lower than in San Jose, Calif., the city with the highest, $580,000.
- Memphis, Tenn., has the highest percentage of home flips, 11.1 percent, which is 3.5 times higher than in Austin, Texas, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, the cities with the lowest, 3.2 percent.
- Plano, Texas, has the highest housing-market health index, 9.81, which is 88.3 times higher than in Jackson, Miss., the city with the lowest, 0.11.
- Orlando, Fla., has the highest number of real-estate agents per 100,000 residents, 171.54, which is 20.5 times higher than in Oxnard, Calif., the city with the lowest, 8.38.
- Mobile, Ala., has the lowest average kitchen remodeling costs, $13,336, which is 4.2 times lower than in Newark, N.J., the city with the highest, $56,108.
- Fort Wayne, Ind., has the lowest average bathroom remodeling costs, $5,238, which is 4.7 times lower than in San Francisco, the city with the highest, $24,506.
- Little Rock, Ark., the city with the lowest average full home remodeling costs, $75,888, which is 5.0 times lower than in Boston, the city with the highest, $377,598.
- Yonkers, N.Y., the city with the lowest property-crime rate per 1,000 residents, 10.01, which is 8.5 times lower than in Spokane, Wash., the city with the highest, 85.59.
