Flipping over Florida - at a low return

Punta Gorda, a Charlotte County retiree-driven town between Sarasota and Fort Myers, seemingly has little in common with Detroit. Or Green Bay. Or Erie, Pa., or Omaha, Neb.

But real estate flipping data has a way of making opposites look similar.

That's a takeaway from a new RealtyTrac report on the counties and metro areas nationwide with the most home flip sales in the 12 months from April 2013 through March 2014. In total, 22 counties/regions had more than 1,000 flipping sales in that time frame, the report states. That includes Punta Gorda and those other Midwest cities. Miami-Dade, Broward and Duval were the other Florida counties to make the 1,000-flips list.

One piece of data that stands out from the survey is Punta Gorda/Charlotte County has the lowest gross return of investment for any of the top flipper locations — by far. That return, according to RealtyTrac, is 12.36%. Most of the top 20 locations have returns of at least 30%, and some, like Green Bay at 69.67%, are well above that. Only four areas are under 30%.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac considers a flip sale any property sold during the 12-month period that previously sold within six months. Here's a glance at the data for the top 10 and the ones in Florida:

County April 2013 to March 2014 flips Gross return on investment
1. Suffolk (NYC area) 7,066 53.50%
2. Maricopa (Phoenix) 4,632 31.42%
3. Los Angeles 3,610 34.18%
4. Douglas (Omaha, Neb.) 3,095 35.56%
5. Duval (Jacksonville) 2,803 40.12%
6. Clark (Las Vegas) 2,542 32.48%
7. San Diego 1,950 35.82%
8. Riverside, Calif. 1,728 30.46%
9. Oakland (Detroit) 1,703 42.47%
10. San Bernardino(Riverside, Calif.)1,574 41.28%
11. Broward 1,421 42.61%
18. Charlotte 1,098 12.36%
20. Miami-Dade 1,056 45.39%