Record house prices and tight inventories are making it tougher for Dallas-Fort Worth home flippers.

The number of D-FW home flips fell by more than 30 percent in the second quarter and average profits fell, according to a new study by Attom Data Solutions.

That jibes with a new nationwide report that says home flipping returns were at almost a four-year low in the second quarter.

"Fewer distressed sales are limiting the ability of home flippers to find deep discounts even while rising interest rates are shrinking the pool of potential buyers for flipped homes," Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at Attom Data, said in the report. "These two forces are squeezing average home flipping returns, pushing investors to leverage financing or migrate to markets with more distressed discounts available to achieve more favorable returns."

In the second quarter, the average U.S. home flipper sold properties for $65,520 more than their purchase price — yielding an average gross return on investment of 44.3 percent.

The numbers weren't nearly as good in North Texas, where a flood of first-time home buyers are competing with investors for a scant supply of moderate and low-priced housing. The average D-FW flipper made only $45,400 on a second quarter sale, with a gross return of 24.4 percent, according to Attom Data.

About 5 percent of all North Texas home sales in the second quarter were flips, the researchers found. Almost 1,100 home flips were counted in the D-FW area.

Flippers paid a median of $186,164 for D-FW home flips during the most recent quarter — well below the North Texas median home sales prices of almost $250,000. And, it took an average of 173 days to flip a D-FW house.

The busiest local neighborhoods for second quarter home flips were in northeast Dallas, Mesquite, DeSoto, Forney and Keller. Only about a quarter of D-FW home flips involved distressed properties — purchased at foreclosure or through a short sale.

Even with the slowdown in activity, D-FW was one of the top 20 markets in the country for home flips, Attom Data found.

New York, Miami and Phoenix were the busiest metro home flip markets, each with more than 1,800 second quarter sales.

Attom Data Solutions based its report on properties that were bought and then resold within a 12-month period. The houses may have been purchased and remodeled.

On a percentage basis, the top home flipping markets included Memphis, Tenn. (9.7 percent), Atlantic City, N.J. (7.9 percent) and Las Vegas (7.7 percent).

North Texas home prices are at record levels — up more than 40 percent in the last four years.

While the rate of home price growth has slowed in the area this year, there's been no sign of a retreat in residential values.