What Is the Average Profit on a House Flip in South Florida? (2026 Numbers)

June 9, 2026 · 6 min read · By Onias Derilus, Broker

The average profit on a house flip in South Florida ranges from $25,000 to $75,000 per deal, but that average hides enormous variation. Here's what profitable flips actually look like versus the ones that lose money.

What's the average profit on a house flip? Nationally, ATTOM Data reports gross flipping profits averaging between $65,000 and $75,000 per deal. That figure is gross profit before taxes, carrying costs, and transaction fees. In South Florida, the numbers vary considerably by market, price point, and investor experience. Here's an honest breakdown of what South Florida flippers actually earn.

Gross profit vs. net profit: what most sources get wrong

When flipping statistics cite "average profit," they almost always mean gross profit: the difference between purchase price and sale price. Net profit is what matters, and it's substantially lower. Here's what gets deducted from gross profit on a typical South Florida flip:

Renovation costs (the biggest variable)
Financing costs: hard money interest at 12 to 18 percent annually, plus origination points at 2 to 4 percent
Holding costs: insurance, property taxes, and utilities during renovation
Selling costs: agent commissions at 4 to 5 percent, closing costs, documentary stamp taxes
Acquisition costs: closing costs, inspection, title search

A deal with $80,000 in gross profit (buy at $220,000, sell at $300,000) might net $35,000 to $45,000 after all costs. That's still excellent, but it's far from $80,000.

Average profit on a house flip - South Florida investor reviewing profit spreadsheet after successful flip closing — Gross flip profit is what you see in the headlines. Net flip profit is what actually hits your bank account after renovation, financing, holding, and selling costs are deducted in South Florida.

What South Florida flip profits actually look like by market

The profit range varies significantly depending on which South Florida county and price point you're working in:

Entry-level markets (St. Lucie, Highlands, inland Broward): Purchase $160,000 to $220,000, ARV $240,000 to $310,000. Net profit range: $20,000 to $45,000 per deal. Lower absolute dollars but often better percentage returns and faster execution.
Mid-market (West Palm Beach, Boca Raton suburbs, Fort Lauderdale): Purchase $250,000 to $380,000, ARV $370,000 to $520,000. Net profit range: $35,000 to $70,000. This is the most competitive segment and where most South Florida flippers operate.
Upper-mid ($500K to $900K ARV): Larger absolute dollars, but also larger capital requirements, longer timelines, and more selective buyers. Net profit range: $60,000 to $120,000 when executed well.
Luxury ($1M+ ARV): High variance. A well-executed luxury flip can net $150,000 to $400,000 or more. A poorly executed one can lose $100,000 or more. Not the place to start.

A real South Florida flip deal breakdown

Here's a realistic example from Broward County's mid-market in 2026:

Purchase price: $295,000
Renovation cost: $52,000 (cosmetic + kitchen + baths + HVAC service)
Hard money financing (65% LTV at 14% for 5 months): $18,500
Holding costs (taxes, insurance, utilities over 5 months): $4,200
Sale price: $430,000 (ARV confirmed by comps)
Selling costs (5% commission + closing): $23,500
Net profit: $430,000 minus $295,000 minus $52,000 minus $18,500 minus $4,200 minus $23,500 = $36,800

$36,800 on a 5-month project with $103,000 of personal capital deployed (35% down + renovation) works out to a 35.7% cash-on-cash return annualized. That's strong by any measure.

Average profit on a house flip - South Florida fix and flip deal analysis showing net return breakdown — A well-underwritten South Florida flip producing $35,000 to $60,000 net on 5 to 6 months of work and $100,000 to $150,000 deployed capital represents solid investor returns.

What separates profitable flips from money-losers

The investors who flip consistently profitably in South Florida share a few clear habits:

Conservative ARV estimates: They price against the lowest comps, not the highest. That buffer protects them when the market softens or a sale takes longer than expected.
Detailed renovation scopes before closing: They get contractor bids on specific scopes before committing to the purchase, not ballpark estimates over the phone.
Reliable contractor teams: Time is money. A renovation that runs 7 months instead of 4 costs $10,000 to $15,000 in extra carrying costs alone.
Buying right: The profit is made at acquisition. Overpaying by $20,000 turns a $40,000 net profit into a $20,000 one. There's no renovation scope that fixes a bad purchase price.

Use our Fix & Flip Calculator to model any deal's true net profit, including all carrying and selling costs, before you commit. Our team helps South Florida investors source, analyze, and execute deals across all eight counties we serve. Connect with us to get started.

A complete deal, worked line by line

Averages hide more than they reveal, so here is one full deal at the current Palm Beach County median of $480,000 after repair value. Every cost is included, in the order you actually pay them.

Assume a purchase at $300,000 and a renovation budget of $60,000. That is $360,000 committed before anything else happens.

The costs people forget

Buying costs. Inspection, title work, recording and lender points. Call it $6,000 on a purchase of this size.
Financing. Hard money at roughly 11 percent on $300,000 for six months is about $16,500, plus points already counted above.
Holding. Property tax, insurance on a vacant renovation, utilities and lawn care. Around $1,400 a month here, so roughly $8,400 over six months.
Selling costs. Commission at 5.5 percent on $480,000 is $26,400. Documentary stamps on the deed add $3,360, and the owner title policy runs about $2,475 where the seller pays it.

What is actually left

Total outlay is $360,000 plus $6,000 buying, $16,500 financing, $8,400 holding and $32,235 in selling costs, which comes to $423,135.

Sell at $480,000 and the profit is $56,865, or a little under twelve percent of the sale price. That is a decent outcome, and it is a long way from the number most people picture when they hear that a flip made $120,000.

The gap is entirely explained by the items above. Gross profit on this deal, meaning sale price minus purchase and renovation, is $120,000. Net profit is $56,865. Both numbers are true and only one of them is yours.

How wrong it can go

Now change two assumptions, both of them common. Suppose the renovation runs to $78,000 rather than $60,000, which is a thirty percent overrun and entirely ordinary on an older house. Suppose it also takes ten months to sell rather than six, which is realistic given Palm Beach County currently averages about 107 days on market before you add renovation time.

The extra $18,000 of work, four more months of interest at roughly $2,750 a month and four more months of holding at $1,400 push costs up by about $34,600. Profit falls to roughly $22,265.

Nothing catastrophic happened in that scenario. No disaster, no collapsed market, just a normal overrun and a normal timeline. That is the honest risk profile of flipping.

Why the county matters

Time on market varies enormously across our region, and interest accrues while you wait. Palm Beach and St. Lucie both average about 107 days, Martin 109, Indian River 119, Broward 124, Miami-Dade 137, Okeechobee 144 and Highlands 206.

A flip in Highlands carries roughly twice the marketing exposure of one in Palm Beach. Cheaper entry prices there look attractive until you count the extra months of interest and holding, which is the calculation that decides whether the discount was real.

The same deal in a cheaper county

Run the identical structure in Highlands County, where the median list price is about $309,000. Assume a purchase at $190,000, renovation at $45,000 and an exit at $309,000.

Committed cost is $235,000. Buying costs run around $4,500, and selling costs come to roughly $17,000 for commission at 5.5 percent, $2,163 in documentary stamps and about $1,620 for the title policy.

The problem is time. Highlands averages about 206 days on market against 107 in Palm Beach, so a realistic cycle is closer to eleven months than six. Hard money at 11 percent on $190,000 for eleven months is roughly $19,100, and holding at about $900 a month adds another $9,900.

Total cost lands near $285,500, leaving about $23,500 on a $309,000 sale. The entry price was $110,000 cheaper than the Palm Beach deal and the profit is less than half, because the extra five months of carry consumed the discount. Cheap markets are not automatically better markets.

What actually protects the margin

Buying well is most of it. A deal with thin margin at purchase cannot be rescued by good finishes, because the exit price is set by the neighbourhood rather than by your effort.

After that, control the schedule. Interest and holding costs run whether or not work is happening, so a crew that disappears for three weeks costs real money. Fix the scope before demolition too, since mid project changes are where budgets fail.