Burnley tops list for number of ‘flipped’ homes

BURNLEY has become Britain’s capital of property flipping, with almost one in ten homes sold in the area last year changing hands multiple times. The Lancashire town topped a list of locations favoured by investors looking to pick up a bargain to sell on quickly, known as ‘flipping’ a property. The average home in Burnley is worth £78,000 Some 30,822 houses and flats worth £5.5billion were flipped, including 8.3 per cent of all properties sold in Burnley, in the year to April, according to estate agent Countrywide. The national figure is the highest since the 2007 financial crisis, when 54,000 properties worth £9.6billion were flipped. Investors previously favoured London, but have been forced to look elsewhere due to increased costs such as hikes in stamp duty. Other hotspots for flipping include Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Wakefield, Reading and the London boroughs of Newham and Waltham Forest.