A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.

Higher mortgage rates, high home prices and tight supply are all conspiring to squeeze investors in the home flipping play.

In all of 2025, roughly 297,000 single-family homes and condos were flipped nationwide, according to ATTOM, a real estate data provider, which defines a flip as a home purchased and sold in the same 12-month period. That was a decrease of 3.9% from 2024 and the lowest number of flips in any year since 2020. Investor flips accounted for 7.4% of all 2025 home sales, down from 7.6% in 2024.

Flips are falling because profits are making it less and less worth it. 

With the backdrop of the highest median home prices on record, the typical home flip netted investors just $65,981 in gross profit, or a 25.5% return on investment, according to ATTOM. That is down from 32% the prior year and the lowest rate since the Great Recession in 2008. 

“Competition for homes remains strong in many markets due to constrained supply,” Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM, said in a release. “With prices staying elevated, investors are finding it harder to secure deals that deliver strong returns.”

For comparison, in the boom decade following the financial crisis, profit margins were higher than 50%, peaking at 61% in 2012, which is around the time home prices bottomed.

Net profits, or investor returns that factor in the cost of fixing up the property, can vary widely depending on local labor, material and financing costs. Across the U.S., however, the cost of fixing properties before flipping remains elevated due to ongoing supply chain pressures and tariff-related increases in material prices, which continue to compress investor margins, according to ATTOM.

There are signs, however, that the flipping market could improve this year, as home prices are expected to moderate further and mortgage rates remain below year-ago levels.

“After nearly 4 years of declining flipped home transaction volume, our survey is picking up signs of positive momentum in the fix-and-flip space,” Alex Thomas, research manager at John Burns Research and Consulting, wrote in a recent report.

The firm partners with Kiavi on a Fix and Flip Housing Market Index, which looks at investor sentiment in the market. In the fourth quarter of 2025, it recorded the largest quarter-over-quarter gain in three years and a reversal of six consecutive quarters of declines. 

In addition, 71% of investors surveyed said they expect to purchase more homes this year, compared with 66% last year and 49% in 2024, according to the JBRC/Kiavi survey. That is the highest share in its four-year history.

Fewer flippers are also reporting disappointing results from their investments. Nationally, 17% of flippers in the fourth quarter reported selling “mostly below” expected after-repair volume, or ARV, down from 21% in the prior quarter, per the survey. 

“Because flippers tend to cut prices faster than typical home sellers during slowdowns (to avoid costly holding periods), this improvement is an early signal that the pricing environment is firming,” Thomas wrote.

He also said several provisions in last summer’s “big beautiful bill” could boost fix-and-flip profitability, including enhanced depreciation, a permanent 20% qualified business income deduction and deductible interest expenses on fix-and-flip loans.

Other measures of real estate flipper sentiment, including the RCN Capital Investor Sentiment Survey, a quarterly report prepared by CJ Patrick Company, also cite optimism.

“It’s those improving market conditions — more inventory, moderating home prices, and slightly better financing costs — coupled with pent-up demand from buyers and increased numbers of distressed properties for sale that I think should give flippers more opportunities as the year goes on,” said Rick Sharga, CEO of CJ Patrick.

The wild card will be mortgage rates. More investors are using financing, at 37.7% in 2025 compared with 36.9% in 2024, according to ATTOM. Rates were expected to be lower this year, but the Iran war and the resulting rise in oil prices have upended those forecasts.

“Flippers are having to get more creative to maintain profitability,” Barber said. “That could include taking on older homes, as the median flipped property in 2025 was built in 1978, the oldest since we began tracking, along with tighter cost control and more disciplined renovation strategies.”

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.

More women are entering the wealth management industry, but they have yet to gain ground in client-facing advisory roles, according to a recent study by private wealth intelligence platform Fintrx.

While the data shows improvement in the industry’s gender gap, the nuance is still notable. Revenue-generating roles are generally better paid and more conducive to leadership roles, according to Fintrx Vice President of Data and Research Emily Goldman.

“Underrepresentation here directly affects female employees’ earnings,” Goldman said. “And that lack of opportunity for leadership and ownership is also going to affect their long-term earnings.”

Younger women are making inroads in wealth management overall, with women accounting for 37.6% of registered professionals aged 20-30, according to Fintrx. For the 30-40 and 40-50 age brackets, the share of women hovers below 27%.

The shift comes as women’s wealth is expected to boom in the coming years. Cerulli Associates estimates $105 trillion in wealth will be passed down to heirs through 2048, with $54 trillion going to spouses. As women tend to live longer than men, they will likely receive the lion’s share.

However, while young women are entering the industry in greater numbers, the growth is concentrated in administrative or operational roles, according to Goldman.

Women account for just 20.2% of producing advisors aged 20 to 30, a percentage near identical for advisors aged 30-40 and 40-50. The share is only modestly higher than that of advisors aged 50-60 (18%) and 60-plus (17.1%).

This gender gap is also reflected in the C-suite, according to Fintrx. Women make up 21.5% of C-suite roles at wealth management firms and are more likely to occupy COO or CFO roles than chief executive or investment roles, the company found.

“This points towards firms needing to create better pathways to these revenue-generating roles and leadership,” Goldman said. “Because when you enter in operations, compliance, legal — there isn’t an easy segue to these book-owning roles, and then long-term strategic leadership roles.”

She noted that an increasing number of women advisors are setting up their own firms. In 2025, there were 39 new female-founded registered investment advisory firms, up from 30 in 2021.

“I think that we’ll see more and more women break out on their own if they’re unable to advance as much or as quickly at wirehouses or larger firms,” she said.