Flipping now 'tricky' as higher taxes and lower price rises bite

Property investors who ‘flip’ properties are a dying breed, new research from a leading estate agency claims as higher tax and weaker house price rises take their toll.

Hamptons says the proportion of homes bought during the first three months of this year that were sold within a year – or ‘flipped’ – after being renovated dropped to 2.3% from 3.6% during the same period last year.

This is because flipping is becoming less attractive financially – stamp duty currently eats up 30% of an investors’ profits and is often more than the renovation costs, up from 10% a decade ago, and only two-thirds of deals make a profit after paying the levy.

This follows the higher ‘nil rate’ introduced in April this year.

Also, the average gross profit made by an investor who flips a home has declined from 17% in 2015 to 10% in 2025, primarily due to weaker house price growth.

The practice of flipping was made hugely popular by the TV presenter Sarah Beeney (main image) during the noughties – millions of viewers tuned into watch her guide often novice investors turn tatty houses into sparkling rental homes or ‘flip them’ for sale for her Property Ladder show.

Wiped out

“Bigger stamp duty bills are wiping out a lot of profit from flipping,” says Hamptons’ research chief Aneisha Beveridge (pictured).

“The 5% surcharge for investors, coupled with a reduction in the point at which buyers start paying stamp duty, means it’s harder than ever to make the sums stack up.

“This, together with rising material and labour costs and, in some places, falling house prices, makes flipping homes an increasingly tricky business.

“The second home stamp duty surcharge was introduced to tilt the market towards first-time buyers at the expense of landlords, something that it has successfully done.  

“However, it has also multiplied the costs for those people who are refurbishing homes to a level that's increasingly unviable.

“These are often empty homes which need a lot of love and are typically projects which most first-time buyers and movers have shied away from.”

Major hotspots where flipping is popular tend to be where house prices are still low, including the North East and in particular Recar, Cleveland and Hartlepool, where ‘tired’ properties can still be bought for £40,000.

Image credit: Channel 4