INVESTOR FLIPS

As home prices have climbed and foreclosures tumbled in recent years, it’s been increasingly difficult for Phoenix-area home investors to score a bargain.

But new research by RealtyTrac today shows that hasn’t necessarily been a deterrent for house flippers.

In fact, RealtyTrac said the Phoenix area had the second-highest number of home flips in the nation between April 2013 and March 2014.

RealtyTrac defines flips as homes that were bought and sold within one year, and for a profit.

Maricopa County had 4,632 flips during the aforementioned period, second only to the New York-New Jersey metro area’s 7,066 flips, the report showed. Keep in mind the Phoenix metro area has a population of roughly 4.4 million, while it's a whopping 20 million in and around New York.

Phoenix-area flippers raked in a 31.42 percent gross profit on average, based on an average purchase price of $172,547 and an average sale price of $226,761.

According to the most recent Arizona State University data, house flippers made up 7 percent of all Valley single-family purchases in March, up slightly from 6 percent a year prior.

Also, the median price of those March investor flips — $172,500 — was up 18.2 percent year-over-year, which was the biggest jump of any transaction type, ASU said.

RealtyTrac did not, however, consider Maricopa County one of the best places for flipping. But that’s not really a bad thing.

One of the criteria for RealtyTrac’s top 14 list of best counties for flipping was that foreclosures increased year-over-year. These counties also had to have unemployment rates below the 6.7 percent March national average and the flips made at least a 30 percent profit on average.

While Maricopa County met the other criteria, it failed to make the list because foreclosures dropped 52 percent year-over-year.

Kristena Hansen covers residential and commercial real estate.