This Issue August 2026 edition
$57,100 vs $85,000
Median gross margin per flip sold this edition, against the same period a year ago
Median gross flip margin fell to $57,100 from $85,000 a year ago, even as operators cut hold time to 85 days
The 319 flips resold this edition cleared a median $502,900 on a median gross margin of $57,100, down from $85,000 a year ago — 17.3% of sale price versus 25.3%. Exits came faster, not slower: median hold was 85 days against 123, and resales priced at 0.98 of county assessed value versus 1.08. Fewer operators carried the volume, 151 versus 265, with the top ten taking 37.5% of flip revenue against 29.6%. Margins here are gross; rehab and carry are not in the public record.
Investor Playbook
What this issue's numbers suggest checking, by investor type. Observations from recorded data — not investment, legal, or tax advice.
Price to a 17% gross margin, not last year's 25%
The 21 assignments that surfaced carried a median $25,450 spread, up from $22,498 a year ago, but the buyer's cushion behind them narrowed to 17.3% from 25.3%. It is worth re-underwriting contracts in the mid bands where flip demand still shows up — 80219 (14 flips, $390,000 median buy), 80013 (11 flips, $360,000) and 80015 (8 flips, $365,000) — and expecting more retrades on anything priced off a 2025 comp set. Assignment counts are a floor; only deals that touched a recorded deed appear here.
Speed is doing the work that price used to do
Median hold fell to 85 days from 123 and resales cleared at 0.98 of assessed value versus 1.08, with median $/sqft at $317.70 against $329.28. The data suggests the operators still clearing are buying tighter and turning quickly rather than holding for a stretch. Typical exits this period were 1,464 sqft, three-bed, built around 1969, 15.3 km from the CBD — check whether the light-scope version of that box pencils at your cost of capital before you underwrite a full gut.
The cheaper basis is in condos and the outer Aurora zips
Investors paid a $295,000 median for condos at $276/sqft against $533,500 and $311/sqft for single family, and the overall investor median fell to $489,000 from $540,000 a year ago. With 93 more homes going into flipper hands than came out this period, some of that inventory will need an exit; buying from operators on day 85 rather than day 30 is worth testing in 80013, 80015 and 80229, where median buys ran $360,000, $365,000 and $282,500.
Recorded loan count halved — shorter paper is the gap
Only 51 private loans were recorded versus 119 a year ago, at a $263,800 median versus $350,000, while seller notes rose to 122 from 87. Trailing-twelve-month median loan-to-price sat at 1.02 with rehab dollars in 53.3% of financed deals, so the volume names — Indicate Capital (49 loans, $505,000 median), Capital Fund I (48, $336,925), RFLF 4 (44, $479,325) — are still writing above purchase price. With median holds at 85 days, short-duration rehab paper on sub-$500,000 basis is the slot the data suggests is thinnest.
2-4 units trade at house-like per-foot pricing
Thirty-five 2-4 unit deals recorded at a $604,000 median and $307/sqft — within a few dollars of the $311/sqft single-family figure — while multi-family (unspecified) ran 23 deals at $840,000 and $200/sqft. Small multi remains a rounding error in flip exits at 1.3% of resales versus 0.8% a year ago, so competition from resale operators is limited; the per-foot gap between the 2-4 unit and unspecified multi-family buckets is worth checking parcel by parcel before assuming it is a bargain.
Factoids
Numbers from this period a practitioner would repeat to a colleague. Each computed directly from recorded instruments.
1,769 investor purchases at a $489,000 median — Recorded residential investor purchases this edition and their median price
Buy-side volume is up 36% year over year while the median ticket is down about 9%. Acquisition is shifting toward cheaper product even as deal count rises.
151 flip operators sold, top 10 took 37.5% of revenue — Distinct operators recording a flip resale, and the revenue share of the ten largest
Roughly 43% fewer names cleared exits, and the concentration of proceeds rose. Smaller operators are the ones missing from this period's resale record.
Denver County took 29.8% of flip resales — County share of flips sold this edition, against the same period a year ago
The exit map moved inward: Jefferson also rose to 23.2% from 19.6%. At the zip level, 80134 (Parker) went to 5.0% of flips from 1.0%, while 80601 (Brighton) fell to 1.6% from 7.3%.
3,368 homes in the flipper-held pipeline — Estimated inventory of homes bought by flippers and not yet resold, latest month
Latest month showed 254 bought against 256 resold and 57 aged out of the flip window. The held pool keeps shrinking, but it is still large relative to a 159.5-per-month exit pace.
51 recorded private loans at a $263,800 median — Private-lender instruments recorded this edition and their median size
Recorded private lending is less than half of last year's count, while seller-financed notes ran 122 versus 87. Over the trailing twelve months 64.9% of observed investor purchases carried financing, and 53.3% of financed deals included rehab dollars.
Condos bought at $295,000 and $276/sqft — Median investor purchase price and price per square foot by product type this edition
Condos were 253 of the period's purchases, 2-4 units 35 at a $604,000 median ($307/sqft), and mobile/manufactured 25 at $279,700 ($149/sqft). The condo basis gap is the widest per-foot discount in the residential mix outside manufactured housing.
Market Activity — Investor Purchases
Monthly count of investor purchases of MSA properties (left axis) and the median purchase price (right axis), trailing 13 months. The most recent month can grow up to ~15% as late recordings arrive.
Investor purchases per month (bars) and median purchase price (line), trailing 13 months.
Which vintage of housing investors bought this edition, by decade built.
Where the Money Went
The geography of the period's investor activity: which zip codes saw the most recorded deals, and the largest individual transactions at street level.
The 8 busiest zip codes for investor deals
Pins rank the busiest zips by recorded investor deals (purchases + flips of existing homes) this period — #1 busiest; orange = top 3; pin size scales with deal volume. Median buy is the typical investor purchase; median sale the typical flip resale. Click a pin for details; full table below.
| # | Zip | Area | Purchases | Flips | Median buy | Median sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 80134 | Parker | 49 | 16 | $550,000 | $658,950 |
| #2 | 80449 | HARTSEL | 42 | 1 | $39,675 | n/a |
| #3 | 80219 | Westwood / Mar Lee | 27 | 14 | $390,000 | $492,200 |
| #4 | 80013 | Aurora Southeast | 29 | 11 | $360,000 | $455,000 |
| #5 | 80210 | Platt Park / University | 33 | 5 | $840,000 | $775,000 |
| #6 | 80022 | Commerce City | 30 | 5 | $427,500 | $410,000 |
| #7 | 80127 | Ken Caryl | 24 | 11 | $568,350 | $750,000 |
| #8 | 80015 | Aurora Southwest | 25 | 8 | $365,000 | $372,000 |
A representative deal in each of the busiest zips
One deal per zip: the largest matching this market's typical house (typical for this market: 1603 sqft, 3 bed, built around 1966; priced within 4x the county assessment and under 5x its own zip's median).
$1.2M · Purchase
132 WILLOWLEAF DR, Littleton 80127
Street View Jun 2025 — before the purchase
$1.1M · Purchase
3242 S FILLMORE ST, Denver 80210
Street View Oct 2024 — before the purchase
$710,000 · Purchase
20855 E BERRY PL, Centennial 80015
Street View May 2023 — before the purchase
$669,900 · Purchase
8517 PIUTE DR, Parker 80134
Street View Jun 2026 — after the purchase
$610,000 · Purchase
327 S ALCOTT ST # 329, Denver 80219
Street View Jun 2024 — before the purchase
$573,000 · Purchase
2123 S OLATHE ST, Aurora 80013
Street View Jun 2012 — before the purchase
$500,000 · Purchase
13132 E 104TH DR, Commerce City 80022
Street View Jun 2026 — after the purchase
Deal sheet — private lending, in date order
Private loans recorded against residential property this period, oldest first.
| Date | Lender | Amount | Property | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 4 | Gold Mesa 16 LLC | $280,000 | 6540 E 62ND Way, Commerce City 80022 | Single family |
| May 5 | Mills Andrew | $821,072 | 9788 S Johnson Way, Littleton 80127 | Single family |
| May 6 | John R Fox Revocable Trust | $510,000 | 1460 S Birch ST, Denver 80222 | Single family |
| May 6 | John R Fox Revocable Trust | $510,000 | 1460 S Birch ST, Denver 80222 | Single family |
| May 6 | John R Fox Revocable Trust | $510,000 | 1460 S Birch ST, Denver 80222 | Single family |
| May 11 | James Bruce | $660,000 | 3215 S Fairfax ST, Denver 80222 | Single family |
| May 11 | Roffe Gary | $600,000 | 8038 E Lehigh DR, Denver 80237 | Single family |
| May 11 | Gonzales Gerald | $434,515 | 6459 W David DR, Littleton 80128 | Single family |
Largest flip margin deals of the period, at street level
Gross margin = recorded sale price minus the flipper's recorded purchase price. Purchase deeds are recoverable for roughly 4 in 10 flips; rehab and carry costs are not public record.
$988,750 gross · bought $986,250 (Jul 2025) → sold $2.0M
1317 BIRCH ST, Denver 80220
Street View Nov 2023 — before the flip (pre-renovation)
$835,000 gross · bought $1.0M (Dec 2024) → sold $1.8M
4512 CAREFREE TRL, Parker 80134
Street View Jun 2026 — during the flip
$635,000 gross · bought $555,000 (Sep 2025) → sold $1.2M
5040 BENTON WAY, Denver 80212
Street View Jul 2025 — before the flip (pre-renovation)
$562,650 gross · bought $737,250 (Nov 2025) → sold $1.3M
3608 S NEWPORT WAY, Denver 80237
Street View Oct 2024 — before the flip (pre-renovation)
$560,000 gross · bought $1.4M (Dec 2025) → sold $1.9M
6 AMBERWOOD LN, Littleton 80127
Street View Jun 2025 — before the flip (pre-renovation)
$501,250 gross · bought $670,000 (Aug 2025) → sold $1.2M
2595 S LEYDEN ST, Denver 80222
Street View Oct 2024 — before the flip (pre-renovation)
Flip Structure — Year over Year
How the flip market itself is changing: margins, who is doing the flipping, what they flip, and where. Same two calendar months, this year vs last, from the current data extract.
| Flip market structure | Same months last year | This edition |
|---|---|---|
| Flips sold | 491 | 319 |
| Median sale | $524,900 | $502,900 |
| Median $/sqft | $329 | $318 |
| Sale vs county-assessed | 1.08× | 0.98× |
| Median gross margin (matched buys) | $85,000 | $57,100 |
| Median margin % | 25% | 17% |
| Median hold | 4.0 mo | 2.8 mo |
| Homes bought by flippers | 505 | 412 |
| Net to inventory (bought − sold) | +14 | +93 |
| Active flippers | 265 | 151 |
| Top-10 flippers' revenue share | 30% | 38% |
| Median house: sqft / beds / built | 1631 / 3 / 1976 | 1464 / 3 / 1969 |
| Pre-1950 stock share | 13% | 14% |
| 2–4 unit share | 1% | 1% |
| Median distance from downtown | 16.2 km | 15.3 km |
Homes bought counts every deed recorded to a known flipper in the window, resold or not. Net to inventory is that minus flips sold. The standing stock is in the Flip Pipeline section.
Attributed profit per flip (per-investor aggregates, by drop period): Feb 26→Jun 26: 765 flips, n/a (revisions) · Jun 26→Aug 26: 488 flips, n/a (revisions).
County mix (share of flips, last year → this edition): Denver 23%→30% · Jefferson 20%→23% · Arapahoe 19%→18% · Adams 28%→17% · Douglas 4%→8% · Broomfield 2%→3% · Park 0%→1% · Clear Creek 0%→1% · Elbert 3%→0% · Gilpin 0%→0%.
Biggest zip share moves: Brighton 7.3%→1.6% · Parker 1.0%→5.0% · 80107 3.3%→0.3% · Berkeley / West Highland 0.8%→3.4% · Aurora West 2.0%→0.0% · Brighton East 2.0%→0.3%.
Flip Pipeline — Buying, Selling and Inventory
Homes bought by known flippers and homes they resold, per month, alongside the stock sitting in flipper hands. A house enters inventory when a flipper buys it and leaves on the next recorded sale, at any price. Purchases still unsold after five years are treated as holds and drop out.
Solid = recorded, dashed = projected. Green bars are inventory on the right axis: homes bought and not yet resold. Aged out is purchases passing five years unsold. Inventory moves by bought minus resold minus aged out.
| Flip pipeline | Bought / mo | Resold / mo | Aged out / mo | Inventory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latest recorded month (2026-05) | 254 | 256 | 57 | 3,368 |
| Projected (2026-11) | 163 | 211 | 52 | 3,162 |
Method: a straight-line trend through the last 24 months, adjusted for the month of the year, shown dashed as a projection. The series stops before the newest month or two, where deeds are still recording.
Who's Funding the Deals
First mortgages open on flipper purchases from Jul 2025 – Jun 2026 that have not yet resold. 65% carried recorded debt; the rest closed cash or off-record. Ranked by deal count.
65%
721 of 1,111 flipper purchases carried a recorded first mortgage
$438,700
median 1.02× the purchase price — the median lender advances rehab money on top of the buy
53%
384 of 721 loans exceed the purchase price, so the lender is covering work as well as the buy
| Lender | Loans | Borrowers | Median loan | Loan vs price | Funds rehab | Median purchase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicate Capital Reit LLC | 49 | 33 | $505,000 | 1.09× | 71% | $470,000 |
| Capital Fund I LLC | 48 | 35 | $336,925 | 0.90× | 31% | $364,500 |
| RFLF 4 LLC | 44 | 24 | $479,325 | 1.13× | 86% | $421,500 |
| Merchants MTG & Trust Corp LLC | 42 | 31 | $522,440 | 1.06× | 74% | $466,250 |
| Kiavi Funding INC | 30 | 26 | $437,050 | 1.21× | 80% | $377,500 |
| United Wholesale Mortgage LLC | 20 | 19 | $434,928 | 0.95× | 20% | $450,250 |
| Boomerang Finance Sub Reit LLC | 18 | 10 | $343,812 | 0.96× | 39% | $345,000 |
| Conventus LLC | 15 | 9 | $796,500 | 1.16× | 93% | $685,000 |
| Tier One Funding Ca INC | 14 | 6 | $475,900 | 1.22× | 64% | $457,500 |
| Lead Funding Iii Corporation | 12 | 6 | $370,000 | 1.13× | 100% | $326,250 |
Rates and terms are not published: the county feed models both. Borrowers counts the distinct flippers on each lender's book. Loan vs price is the recorded first mortgage divided by what the buyer paid. Above 1.00x the lender is funding purchase plus rehab; below it the buyer brought cash to the table. Blanket mortgages covering several parcels are excluded, as are loans outside 0.1x-3x the price. Rates and points are not public record.
Flipper Profile — The Working Flipper
The 70th–90th percentile of local flippers by lifetime flip count — the established operators below the whales: 4–9 lifetime flips each. Bath counts are not in the assessor extract.
386
each with 4–9 lifetime flips (avg 5.5)
$26,603
6,778 flips matched to their purchase price
0.2 mo
purchase to resale, matched deals
1603 sqft · 3 bd
median year built 1966
Where they work: Westwood / Mar Lee (80219) 5% · Chaffee Park / Adams (80221) 3% · Aurora Central (80012) 3% · Mayfair / Montclair (80220) 3% · Denver Tech Center (80237) 3%.
Market Pulse
| per month, Feb–Jun 2026 | per month, Jun–Aug 2026 | change | avg/mo 2yr | avg/mo 4yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ▼ Homes bought by flippers | 253 | 206 | -18% | 248 | 273 |
| ▼ Flips sold (deeds) | 246 | 160 | -35% | 263 | 273 |
| ▲ Lending deals funded | 77 | 136 | +77% | — | — |
| ▲ Seller/notes held (net) | 38 | 121 | +216% | — | — |
| ▲ Investors (net) | 552 | 583 | +6% | — | — |
Flips and flipper purchases = recorded deeds, same two months each year; their 2- and 4-year columns are per-month averages of the deed series. The remaining rows come from the investor file, which spans 13 months, so they have no multi-year average (2026: Jun 2026 → Aug 2026; 2025: Feb 2026 → Jun 2026).
Past Issues
Methodology
Source Data
Every figure is computed from recorded instruments (deeds, mortgages, assignments) and assessor property records for the five counties of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood MSA. No surveys, no estimates, no listings data.
This edition analyzes transactions dated May 1 – June 30, 2026, as recorded through the 2026-08 data extract.
Who Counts as an Investor
Investors are entities whose recorded transaction history looks like investing: rental holding (landlords), short-hold resales (flippers), private mortgage lending, note holding, or contract assignment (wholesalers). Banks, homebuilders, iBuyers, SFR funds, and government entities are identified by name and reported separately from small investors.
How Comparisons Work
The Market Pulse reports activity attributed between successive data drops, from the per-investor lifetime totals maintained upstream — periods differ in length, so per-month rates are shown. Elsewhere, "vs. year ago" compares the same calendar months one year earlier, counted from the same data extract. Transfers under $5,000 (quitclaims, partial interests) are excluded everywhere. Counts lag recording by 4–8 weeks, and the newest month can grow up to ~15% as late records arrive — direction is reliable before magnitude.
Known Limits
Wholesale assignments only appear when they touch a recorded deed, so those counts are a floor. Flip hold times are measured from the prior recorded sale. Names are the owner of record, which may be an LLC or trust.
About
Purpose
A working tool for small real estate investors in Greater Denver: what actually closed, where, at what prices, and what it suggests checking next — one theme per issue.
Cadence
Published with each bi-monthly data drop, covering the two most recent complete months of recorded activity.
Disclaimer
Observations from public records, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Past activity does not guarantee future results. Verify any property or counterparty independently before transacting.