Investor sentiment in the fix-and-flip housing market improved at the end of 2025, even as overall transaction volume fell to its lowest level in a decade.
That’s according to a recent survey conducted by Kiavi and John Burns Research & Consulting. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the Burns + Kiavi Fix and Flip Market Index rose to a reading of 62, marking its largest quarterly rise in three years.
The index, which is based on a proprietary survey of roughly 450 flippers nationwide, is up from 56 in Q3 2025. Kiavi noted that readings above 50 indicate market expansion.
Survey respondents cited lower mortgage rates, easier access to capital and signs of stabilizing home prices as key drivers of improved sentiment. Seventy-one percent of flippers said they expect to purchase more homes in 2026 compared with last year — the highest share in the survey’s four-year history — while only 10% expect to buy fewer homes.
Forty-two percent of flippers expect good sales conditions over the next six months, the highest share since early 2022. Only 9% anticipate poor sales, the lowest level in two years. Across every U.S. region, flippers say they are more optimistic than pessimistic about their sales activity over the next six months.
Still, the data shows a market under pressure, with Kiavi noting that flipping activity remains challenged as economic uncertainty, elevated rates and rising resale inventory weigh on the demand for flipped homes.
Flipped home sales fell to 37,000 in the fourth quarter across the 103 metro areas analyzed, down 9.2% year over year and the lowest level since Q3 2015. Despite improving sentiment, margins remain tight. More than 40% of flippers reported increasing seller concessions or cutting prices to close deals.
Kiavi found that 16% of flippers reported less competition for deals than usual in Q4 2025, a decline from 19% in the prior quarter. Specifically, about 23% of flippers reported less competition for deals in Texas and Florida, where rising inventory has made pre-flip acquisitions “easier.”
The company said that it views more competition as a sign of a healthy fix-and-flip market.
Nationally, flippers said they are willing to pay an average of 66% of the after-repair value when purchasing a property, down slightly from 67% a year earlier. Forty-two percent of respondents now look to pay 60% or less of after-repair value, up from 36% one year ago, signaling more conservative mortgage underwriting for deals that don’t involve all cash.
Just 14% of flippers said they sold homes above their initially estimated after-repair value, the lowest share in the survey’s history.
Access to capital has modestly improved as 30% of respondents reported that capital was easier to obtain in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter, while 14% reported tighter conditions.
Regionally, optimism was strongest in the Midwest and Southeast, where larger shares of investors expect stronger sales conditions in the coming months.
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