House-flipping is still a popular pastime in Nevada, but investors can make a lot more money doing it elsewhere, a new report says.
Flipping accounted for 6.4 percent of home sales statewide in the first quarter, the third-highest rate in the nation behind the District of Columbia (8.3 percent) and Florida (6.5 percent), according to RealtyTrac.
The rate nationally was 4 percent.
RealtyTrac defines flipping as selling a home within a year of buying it.
In Nevada, owners waited an average 154 days before selling, tied with Michigan for the fastest turnaround in the country. The average wait-time nationally was 176 days.
Silver State flippers booked an average $40,327 in gross profit in the three months ended March 31, giving them a 24 percent return on investment, RealtyTrac found.
Nationally, however, flippers had $72,450 in gross profit per deal, a 35 percent return.
Those profits represent the sales price minus the purchase price. They do not account for renovations or other costs that homeowners may incur before selling.
The get-rich-quick tactic helped push Las Vegas housing values to absurd heights during the boom years last decade when investors, backed by easy money, bought homes and sold them for profit a short time later.