Fast-growing prices in the housing market, as well as low interest rates, are enticing more investors to buy homes, renovate them quickly and sell them for a profit.

Fast-growing prices in the housing market, as well as low interest rates, are enticing more investors to buy homes, renovate them quickly and sell them for a profit. But while home flips are rising and investors are expecting growing returns, the profits are falling.

Close to 95,000 homes were flipped in the third quarter of this year, which was an increase for the second quarter in a row after flipping dropped dramatically in the first year of the pandemic. Flips represented 5.7% of all sales, according to ATTOM, a property database.

Yet the average gross profit on a flip was just under $69,000 in the third quarter, down 1.6% from the same period a year ago. The return on investment fell to 32%, the lowest return since the start of 2011. It was also down from a nearly 44% return in the same period last year, marking the largest annual drop since 2009, when the housing market was in crisis.