A housing price report for the September quarter, issued on Thursday, shows 7.5 per cent of homes were sold for a loss, and the median loss was $18,900.

RP Data's Pain and Gain report says this is a rise of 2.5 percentage points compared to the same quarter in 2012, when it was 5 per cent.

Despite the increase, Canberra had the third-lowest proportion of loss-making sales in the country. Sydney recorded the lowest at 4.8 per cent, followed by Perth at 4.9 per cent.

In Canberra, along with Sydney, Hobart and Darwin, the proportion of loss-making sales was highest for homes resold in less than a year, the report says. Forty per cent of homes sold within a year recorded a loss but only 1.8 per cent of homes resold within seven to 10 years were sold at a loss.

''The recent weakness in capital growth conditions across Canberra is resulting in an increasing proportion of loss-making resales,'' the report says.

The September quarter recorded an increase of just more than 1 percentage point from the previous quarter, when it was 6.3 per cent.

The total loss on home sales in the ACT in the quarter under study was $2.77 million.

Nonetheless, 92.5 per cent of sales recorded a median profit of $145,000 for a total value in the ACT of $166 million.

Nationally in the September quarter, 11.1 per cent of 69,949 resales recorded a gross loss relative to the original purchase price, equating to a total loss of $488.1 million.

But the profit recorded by the remaining 88.9 per cent equated to $12.6 billion.

''Of those homes sold throughout the September quarter, those held for a short period of time have been much more susceptible to loss,'' the report says.

''Despite home values having risen over the past year, 17.6 per cent of owners who purchased and sold in the same year sold at a loss.''

The greatest proportion of loss-making sales occurred among homes resold after three to five years.

''If an owner wishes to double their initial outlay upon resale, they generally need to hold the home for at least a decade,'' the report says.

So-called lifestyle regions recorded the highest proportion of loss-making resales in the country.