US home flipping malaise pinches reality TV stars and contractors

AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 19: A 'For Sale' sign is seen on March 19, 2024 in Austin, Texas. From peaking in 2022, From peaking in 2022, home prices and apartment rents in Austin, Texas, have declined more than any other city in the country in 2024. While Austin remains ranked as the 10th-largest city in the U.S., the city is now leading a national property cool-down. From 2020 through 2022, Austin led at the forefront of rapid economic growth, with major companies such as Tesla and Oracle arriving. Austin’s recent downswing indicates that various migration patterns, once fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, continue to fade as the country slowly returns to pre-pandemic levels. Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Brandon Bell / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

NEW YORK: While the increase in interest rates engineered by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) over the last two years put a damper on the overall US housing market, it took a sledge hammer to home flippers from small contractors to reality TV stars.

Just ask Tarek El Moussa, star of HGTV’s The Flipping El Moussas and former co-host of the real estate and renovation focused channel’s mainstay, Flip or Flop.