5 best regions for sales gains revealed
The sellers markets most likely to return a gain in Australia have been revealed by a new report, reinforcing the dominance of one capital city market and representing improved performance for coastal regions.
CoreLogic RP Data’s quarterly Pain and Gain report has unveiled the regions where sellers are most likely to make a profit from a property transaction, with 30.7 per cent of properties surveyed selling for more than double their purchase price.
Of these homes that sold at a profit, the average gross profit was recorded at $230,633.
Sydney recorded the highest proportion of gains to losses of any region nationally, and other NSW regions made up the majority of the top performers.
The five places with the highest gains to loss ratio, according to the report, were:
- Sydney, NSW (97.6 per cent gain)
- Illawarra, NSW (97.5 per cent gain)
- Toowoomba, QLD (97.3 per cent gain)
- Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, NSW (96.6 per cent gain)
- Bendigo, Vic (96 per cent gain)
Sydney emerged as the most likely region for investors and owner occupiers to make a profit from sales. 97.7 per cent of owner-occupier sales and 97.5 per cent of investor sales represented a gain over the March quarter of 2015.
Units were more likely to sell for a gain than houses in the New South Wales capital, with a 98.1 per cent gain compared to 97.3 per cent for houses. According to the report, Sydney was the only capital city market where unit gains outpaced the figures for house sales.
Within the broader Sydney market, the report found that the “Ashfield, Hunters Hill and Marrickville Council areas each recorded no resales at a loss over the quarter”.
CoreLogic RP Data confirmed that while all capital cities were recording resale gains above the Global Financial Crisis levels, different trends were emerging in individual markets.
“There are some interesting trends emerging throughout the individual capital city housing markets. Across each city the proportion of loss-making resales is lower than the recent post financial crisis peak. The proportion of loss-making resales is now trending lower in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart and Canberra while they are trending higher across the remaining capital cities,” the report said.
The capital city markets, ranked from highest to lowest proportion of gains to losses, were:
- Sydney (97.6 per cent gain)
- Melbourne (93.8 per cent gain)
- Perth (93.3 per cent gain)
- Brisbane (90.4 per cent gain)
- Adelaide (90.3 per cent gain)
- Canberra (89.4 per cent gain)
- Darwin (88.9 per cent gain)
- Hobart (87.7 per cent gain)
Where regional markets linked to the resources economy have taken a dip, the report states that major coastal markets are showing improved gains.
“While the markets linked to the resources sector have seen their proportion of loss-making sales rise over recent years, the coastal markets have seen conditions improve. Across the regions we analysed, the proportion of loss-making resales has been recorded at: 18.4 per cent in Bunbury, 22.6 per cent in Cairns, 5.9 per cent in Geelong, 20.5 per cent in Gold Coast, 2.5 per cent in Illawarra, 12.8 per cent in Mid North Coast, 3.4 per cent in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, 15.3 per cent in Richmond-Tweed and 16.5 per cent in Sunshine Coast,” the report stated.