South Florida was home flipping king for 2015

South Florida saw more home flips than any other metropolitan area in the nation last year, according to a new report from RealtyTrac.

A total of 10,658 homes and condos in the region were bought and flipped in 2015, which means South Florida was by far the hottest home flipping market in the U.S. during 2015. Second place went to Los Angeles with 7,307 flips.

Out of all South Florida home sales last year, roughly 8.6 percent of them were flips. The number has grown by 4 percent compared to 2014.

“We continue to see distressed properties funnel through the pipeline in South Florida, which makes it ripe for investors to profit in a strong selling market,” Mike Pappas, CEO and president at the Keyes Company, wrote in the report. “There are always sellers that will discount for a quick cash sale and open the door for astute investors to make a good return by repositioning the property.”

Although South Florida was a hotbed of flipping activity last year, the region didn’t even make the list for metros that saw the country’s biggest profits. San Francisco topped the nation with an average gross profit of $145,000, tied with San Jose. Third place went to New York with $120,000, while South Florida came in low with only $59,700 average gross profit for a flip.

That average is still above the national rate, which hovered at $55,000 per flip last year, according to the report. The country saw a total of 179,778 single-family homes and condos flipped during 2015. — Sean Stewart-Muniz