Minnesota was a hot bed for house flipping last year, according to a new year-end survey by RealtyTrac. The report shows that 6.6 percent of all sales last year were flips, which grossed those flippers an average of $62,000. Nationwide, 4.6 percent of all sales were flips with a gross of $58,000.

Minnesota was also one of several markets that posted the biggest declines in flipping from 2012 to 2013, with flips falling 9 percent; nationwide flips increased 16 percent last year.

A flip, by the way, is defined as a single-family home that is bought and subsequently resold again within six months.

The report also shows that the biggest increases in flipping happened on homes with a flipped price of $400,000 or more, with flipping on homes that sold for more than $400,000 increasing 36 percent from 2012.

The average time to complete a flip nationwide was 84 days in 2013, down from 86 days in 2012 and down from 100 days in 2011.

Here's what Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, had to say about the situation: "Strong home price appreciation in many markets boosted profits for flippers in 2013 despite a shrinking inventory of lower-priced foreclosure homes to purchase....for the year 21 percent of all properties flipped were purchased out of foreclosure, but that is down from 27 percent in 2012 and 32 percent in 2011. Meanwhile flipped homes were still purchased at an average discount of 13 percent below market value in 2013, the same average discount as 2012, indicating that investors are finding discounted buying opportunities outside of the public foreclosure process — particularly in those markets with the biggest increases in flipping for the year."