Number of investors flipping homes returns to precrisis levels; big banks also get back in the game
By Kirsten Grind and Peter Rudegeair | The Wall Street Journal
This is a great time to be in the house-flipping business.
The number of investors who flipped a house in the first nine months of 2016 reached the highest level since 2007. About one-third of the deals were financed with debt, a percentage not seen in eight years.
Now Wall Street, which was nearly felled by real-estate forays almost a decade ago, is getting back into the action. A number of banks are arranging financing vehicles for house-flippers, who buy and sell homes in a matter of months. The sector is small—participants say roughly several hundred million dollars in deals have been made in recent months—but it is expected to keep growing.
