US Flipper Update

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U.S. All Cash Buyers

In October 2013 we observed that the big profit money in house flipping is in the 2-5 million$ high end range and that volumes peaked in 4Q 2012 (Chart). 

But in the fall of 2013 the really big institutional money who had been aggressively buying bank foreclosures in mega wholesale lots since at least the spring of 2012, came back in with even more investment and have sent the "All Cash Buyer" stats up to record highs. The institutional vigor has been good for short term flippers who in 2013 needed less than 3 months to make capital gains per unit flip of close to $60,000 per transaction. Cash is king in a low yield world.

The bottom panel of the chart mashup shows that the mortgage market is a different story. "Low Cash Buyers" disappeared into the March 2009 Pit of Gloom and then disappeared some more as their participation in household ownership formation has plunged even lower to levels of the mid-1990's according the the MBA Purchase Index at January 2014. 

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