Home Flipping Drops Off in DC But Remains Profitable in Certain Zip Codes

• December 8th 2016

by Nena Perry-Brown

It seems as though DC’s reputation as a high-investment town full of house-flipping is becoming less and less accurate as inventory remains at historic lows and home prices rise.

In the third quarter of 2016, there were just three DC zip codes with more than ten sales that qualified as house flips, according to ATTOM Data Solutions. In contrast, there were several neighborhoods in the second quarter that recorded ten or more flips.

The three zip codes where flipping remains prevalent are 20011, 20002, and 20019, the latter being the only DC zip code to crack the top 25 nationwide. While the report does not factor in the cost of renovations, it offers a sense of the lucrative return on investment that comes from flipping a house.

In 20011, which includes Petworth and 16th Street Heights, flippers enjoyed gross profits of $299,950 in the third quarter, an 84.5 percent return on investment (ROI). The 20002 zip code, which encompasses sections of Capitol Hill, Edgewood, Eckington, and Trinidad, saw an average gross profit of $328,000, which is smaller than that seen in the second quarter of the year.

In 20019, which includes areas like Benning Ridge and Deanwood, about one out of every fives homes sold last quarter was a flip. The gross ROI there has decreased 20 percent year-over-year to 98 percent, with profits averaging $147,000.

For the full study, click here.

This study identifies a home flip as having taken place when a property is sold twice within a year based on publicly-recorded sales data.

Correction: An earlier version of this article attributed Congress Heights to the 20019 zip code.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc_flips_decrease_further_but_still_profitable_in_certain_zip_codes/11961.