The National Numbers Are Ugly. Ignore Them.

Pittsburgh broke into Realtor.com's Top 10 Markets for 2026, and the reason is structural, not hype. Current homeowners here have the smallest gap between their existing mortgage payment and what a new mortgage would cost — roughly 32.5%, the lowest in the country. That means people are actually willing to move, creating the inventory circulation that flippers need to both source deals and sell renovated product without sitting on holding costs for months.

Where to look: Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, and Garfield for row homes with strong resale to young professionals. Dormont and Brookline for affordable detached homes near transit. Millvale and Etna for emerging-neighborhood plays where entry is still under $150,000.

Pennsylvania led the entire nation in flip ROI in 2025 at 73% average gross return, and Philadelphia is the engine. The city offers something most flip markets don't: a huge range of neighborhoods at wildly different price points, all within the same metro.

Where to look: Germantown and East Falls for sub-$200k twins with strong post-reno resale. Fishtown and Kensington (northern edges) for higher-end flips. Point Breeze and Grays Ferry for BRRRR-style holds where rents have climbed faster than purchase prices.

This market doesn't get the Instagram attention, but the numbers speak for themselves. The Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton metro has posted some of the highest flip ROIs in the country over the past several years, topping 112% in recent ATTOM data. Entry prices are extremely low — you can acquire a renovation candidate for $60,000–$120,000 and resell renovated product in the $180,000–$250,000 range.

Delaware quietly led the entire United States in average gross flip profit in 2025, with investors netting roughly $165,763 per deal and an 88.8% average ROI — the highest in the country. Four of the top ten flip-ROI states are clustered right in the Delaware Valley, making this corridor the densest concentration of flip profitability in America.

Where to look: Wilmington's row homes in The Highlands and Trolley Square. Newark for University of Delaware buyer/renter demand. Middletown for older homes in a rapidly growing suburb. Dover for stable BRRRR holds, not quick flips.

Richmond checks every box for a disciplined flipper: moderate entry costs, strong and growing demand, rising rents, a deep pool of young professional buyers, and enough older housing stock to source renovation candidates consistently. Virginia flippers averaged $120,000 in gross profit with 81.1% ROI — the fourth highest in the country — and Richmond is where a disproportionate share of that profit is being made.

Where to look: Church Hill and Manchester for row homes with genuine appreciation momentum. The Fan District for premium flips. Lakeside and Henrico County edges for affordable detached homes with school-driven demand.

The Hampton Roads corridor — Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News, Chesapeake — is the market most investors overlook in Virginia, and that's exactly why margins are still healthy here. Median home prices sit around $265,000–$290,000, well below the state average, and demand is structurally supported by the largest naval base in the world.

Why it works for BRRRR: Military families create steady, reliable rental demand with low vacancy. Buy a distressed property for $150,000–$200,000, renovate, stabilize a tenant at $1,500–$1,800/month, and refinance. The numbers pencil cleanly at current rates if your acquisition is right.

Where to look: Norfolk's Ghent, Ocean View, and downtown revitalization zones. Hampton's Buckroe Beach area. Newport News for the most affordable entry in the corridor.

Maryland matched Delaware's 88.8% ROI and posted $150,000 in average gross flip profit. Baltimore City and Baltimore County remain the densest concentration of distressed, below-market inventory within driving distance of Washington, D.C. — which means your buyer and renter pool extends well beyond the city itself.

Where to look: Highlandtown, Patterson Park, and Canton-adjacent zips for row home flips with owner-occupant demand. Catonsville and Parkville in the county for detached homes. Dundalk for aggressive entry prices with steady rental demand.

No state has more markets on the radar of serious investors right now than Ohio. The $100,000–$200,000 acquisition range — Ohio's sweet spot — generated the highest average profit margins nationally at 31%. Cleveland posted 72% gross ROI, and all three metros offer what's becoming rare in 2026: affordable entry, strong buyer demand, and enough inventory to actually find deals without competing against thirty other offers.

Where to look: Cleveland's West Side (Lakewood, Detroit Shoreway, Ohio City) for walkable-neighborhood flips. Columbus's Franklinton and Near East Side for appreciation plays. Cincinnati's Northside and Price Hill for affordable rehab-to-rent.

🚫 Where NOT to Flip Right Now

The same ATTOM data that highlights the winners also reveals where margins have evaporated:

• Austin, TX — average gross profit of roughly $8,800, barely enough to cover closing costs.
• Phoenix and most sunbelt pandemic darlings are seeing single-digit ROIs as prices caught up to where speculators pushed them.
• College Station, TX recorded a negative average ROI — flippers there are actively losing money.

The pattern: markets where institutional capital and media attention drove rapid appreciation in 2020–2022 are now the worst places to flip. Inventory is priced at or above ARV, contractors are expensive and booked out, and buyer pools have thinned.

1. Source locally, not nationally. The zip code matters more than the state. Two neighborhoods five miles apart can have completely different ARVs, buyer profiles, and contractor availability. Build your comp database at the street level.

2. Underwrite conservatively at current rates. The days of counting on rate drops to bail out a thin deal are over. Run your numbers at today's rates, today's contractor bids, and today's realistic DOM. If the deal only works with three optimistic assumptions stacked on top of each other, it doesn't work.

3. Have a BRRRR exit ready. The investors posting the best risk-adjusted returns right now can pivot from flip to hold if the resale market softens mid-project. If a property works as both a flip and a rental, you have optionality. If it only works as a flip, you have risk.