Canberra homeowners are some of the most likely in Australia to sell at a profit, new property figures reveal.
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The national Pain and Gain report issued by RP Data on Tuesday showed 6.2 per cent of Canberra properties sold in the June quarter made a gross loss, a rate equal with Sydney properties and bettered only by Perth vendors.
More than one-third of the ACT properties sold had doubled in price, better than the national average of 30 per cent.
For the 93.8 per cent of properties that sold for more than their purchase price in the three months, the median profit was $157,000. These properties had been held, on average, for 9.2 years. The median loss for properties sold for less than their purchase price was $20,250, and they had been held for an average 3.4 years.
RP Data research analyst Cameron Kusher said the chances of making a gross profit or loss were based on the length of time a property has been owned.
“As a stark example, homes that were purchased prior to 1 January, 2007 (pre GFC) and were then sold during the June quarter of this particular year, only 7.2 per cent of resales made at a gross loss,” Mr Kusher said.
“However, for homes purchased on or after this date, the propensity to make a loss on the sale climbed substantially - if you look at those properties which sold at a loss over the quarter they had an average hold period of just 5.0 years.”
“This highlights the long-term nature of investment in residential property and that if you chase short-term profits you are likely to be more susceptible to losses.”
RP Data recorded 69,390 residential property re-sales nationally during the second quarter of 2013. Of these, 12 per cent recorded a gross loss from the original purchase price, equating to total losses of $530.7 million. The gross profit from the balance of the re-sales equated to $12.1 billion.
Capital cities proved a safer investment. There were gross losses for 8.6 per cent of property re-sales there.
Regional properties in Queensland and Tasmania were the most likely to be sold at a loss; 27.5 per cent and 20.9 per cent of respective dwellings went backward in price.
