Bargain properties are being snapped up and then resold ‘within months’ in this one part of the regionWigan is Greater Manchester’s property ‘flipping’ hotspot(Image: Regal Estate Agents / Zoopla)

An affordable Greater Manchester borough has been named one of the UK’s property ‘flipping’ hotspots, where bargain homes costing as little as £129,000 are being bought and resold within just months.

New research from estate agency Hamptons shows that the number of properties being ‘flipped’ has dropped to its lowest level in more than ten years.

But despite this, Wigan is defying the trend and is amongst the UK areas with the highest number of flipped homes so far this year.

There are considerable profits to be made when flipping houses if you are able to snap up a cheap property and sell it for a considerable amount more than what you paid and spent on it.

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Hamptons looked at Land Registry figures across England and Wales to see how many homes have been ‘flipped’ so far this year.

The firm classed a flipped property as one that was bought and then resold within a 12-month timeframe.

According to Hamptons, around 4.2 percent of properties in Wigan have been ‘flipped’ in the first quarter of 2025. This is more than the 2.3 percent average across the UK.

Wigan is known for being one of the region’s cheapest areas to buy a home, with an average house price of £182,635 over the last 12 months, according to Zoopla.

The property site says that a terraced house in Wigan costs around £129,055 on average, whilst you can buy a semi-detached house for £190,556 and a detached property generally costs around £289,024.

Meanwhile, flats can be bought for as cheap as £87,699.

Wigan is known as one of the most affordable boroughs to buy a home in Greater Manchester(Image: Getty Images)

The typical gross profit for flipped properties, calculated as the gap between selling and buying prices excluding additional expenses, stood at £22,000 in early 2025.

The North East of England continues to be a prime region for property flipping, with Redcar and Cleveland standing out as a particularly favoured spot, the latest analysis reveals.

In the North East, 4.7 percent of all homes sold in the first quarter of 2025 had been flipped within a year.

In London, only 1.5% of homes sold in the first quarter of 2025 changed hands within the past 12 months. The combination of high stamp duty costs and house price growth has led to reduced profits for investors in the capital, Hamptons says.

“Rising upfront costs have pushed investors further north,” says Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons.

“It’s also where more house price growth has been concentrated over the last few years. While the returns aren’t as high as with homes in the south in cash terms, higher yields and lower tax bills continue to make the north the homeland of flipping.”

This property is currently on the market in Wigan for £140,000(Image: Breakey & Co / Zoopla)

Here are the local authorities with the highest number of flipped homes in the first quarter of 2025, according to Hamptons:

1. Redcar and Cleveland, North East, 7.6%.

2. Co Durham, North East, 6.6%.

3. Hartlepool, North East, 6.5%.

4. Burnley, North West, 5.8%.

5. Bassetlaw, East Midlands, 5.2%.

6. Newport (City of), Wales, 5.0%.

=7. Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, 4.9%.

=7. Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, 4.9%.

=9. North Tyneside, North East, 4.8%.

=9. Sunderland, North East, 4.8%.

=9. Great Yarmouth, East of England, 4.8%.

=9. Neath Port Talbot, Wales, 4.8%.

13. Blaenau Gwent, Wales, 4.7%.

14. Torridge, South West, 4.6%.

15. Pendle, North West, 4.5%.

=16. Erewash, East Midlands, 4.4%.

=16. North East Derbyshire, East Midlands, 4.4%.

=18. West Lindsey, East Midlands, 4.3%.

=18. Caerphilly, Wales, 4.3%.

20. Wigan, North West, 4.2%.

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