Thousands of homes were flipped for profit in minority neighborhoods in New York City, a trend where developers and investors make a quick buck but leaves communities with less affordable homeownership opportunities.
From 2021 to 2025, 10,053 homes were flipped in the city, including 1- to 3-bedroom family homes, co-ops or condo apartments that were bought and re-sold within two years, according to a new report from Pratt Center for Community Development.
Neighborhoods with the highest rates of home flipping are comprised of 90% people of color and have higher shares of cost-burdened homeowners than areas where flipping is less prevalent, the report said.
Many home flippers focused on houses in central and eastern Brooklyn, according to the report. In areas with the highest rates of home flipping, the median price flippers paid to purchase a property in 2021-2025 was $470,000, while the median price they re-sold homes for was 64% higher at $770,000. By comparison, the median price of non-flips in those areas was $660,000, the analysis found.
“Our latest community-engaged research publication shows that home flipping continues to drive up home prices in neighborhoods of color,” said Alexa Kasdan, executive director of Pratt Center for Community Development.
Housing advocates pushed for city and state leaders to adopt polices that would curb home flipping, including the End Predatory Home Flipping Act (S574/A342), sponsored by state Senator Julia Salazar and Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, which aims to deter professional investors from buying up homes by establishing a tax on home flipping.
“New data from the Pratt Center underscores what we already know - that wealthy investors are buying up New Yorkers’ homes, superficially renovating them, and quickly selling them for huge profits," said Salazar. "This is a toxic practice that is driving up the cost of homes and rent, particularly in neighborhoods of color like East New York and Cypress Hills."
Similar to deed theft, redlining, or blockbusting, home flipping is a predatory real estate practice in our city, said City Council Member Sandy Nurse.
“Shady actors exploit Black and brown homeowners, undercut the value of these homes, and then sell them at huge markups out of reach to those same neighborhoods," she said. "This greed-fueled predation not only robs families of the security and peace of mind homeownership can bring, but it has also contributed to the mass exodus of Black people from this city."
