Fresno saw the second-largest decrease in return on investment for houses that are flipped by investors. Photo by Stefan Lehner on unsplash

If you are a Fresno flipper, you may have noticed your return on investment taking a hit earlier this year.

ATTOM, a property data and real estate analysis firm based in Irvine, released a report on Wednesday highlighting the trend of declining home flipping activity nationwide in early 2025. 

Here in Fresno, the return on investment on flips fell to 37.8% in the first quarter of 2025 — down from 51.3% in the previous quarter. 

That actually rated Fresno the second-worse in the country in terms of lost profits.

Among metro areas with populations over 1 million, the biggest quarterly profit margin drop off was in St. Louis, Missouri, which saw a 22-point lower return on investment in Q1 compared to the previous quarter. Fresno was second with its 13.5-point dip, followed by New York with an 8.1-point drop and Chicago losing 7.8 points.

However, Fresno was one of the most active markets for flips sold to Federal Housing Administration (FHA)- backed buyers.  

In Fresno, 26.5% of flipped homes were sold to buyers with FHA loans – the fourth highest among U.S. metropolitan areas. Only Visalia (34.1%), Bakersfield (27.4%) and Vallejo (26.8%) were higher.

In the first quarter of 2025, 67,394 homes and condos were flipped across the country, accounting for 8.3% of all home sales. While that number was up from 7.4% the previous quarter, it marked the lowest number of quarterly flips since 2018.  

Nationally, investors earned a median gross profit of $65,000 per flip, which was down from $70,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024. Return on investment fell to 25%, continuing the downward trend since being at 48.8% in late 2020.

ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said in the report that today’s housing climate brings mixed conditions for people looking to flip.

“The competitive home market means high prices, which is good for short-term investors on the selling end,” Barber said. “But that dynamic is also making it harder to find under-priced homes to buy up and it’s ultimately squeezing profit margins for the industry.”

Nationwide, flips took an average of 164 days from purchase to resale, up slightly from 157 days in the fourth quarter of last year.

Despite tightening margins, ATTOM found flipped homes remained most profitable in lower-cost areas with purchase prices below $225,000.