Australian homeowners who sold their properties in the last three months made a record $36.6billion in profit, with the biggest winners in NSW.
Cotality revealed in its latest Pain and Gain report for the June quarter that six of the top ten local government areas that saw the biggest median gains were in NSW.
In the sea-change town of Kiama on the NSW South Coast, sellers recorded a median profit of $758,000 after holding their properties for nearly 12 years on average.
During that period, the median dwelling value in Kiama surged by 120 per cent.
Woollahra Council, in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs – home to prestigious areas like Bellevue Hill, Double Bay, and Vaucluse – recorded a median gain of $575,000.
The local government areas that recorded the lowest median profits were Longreach in regional Queensland, where the figure was $45,200, and Coolgardie in Western Australia, at $52,500.
Regional Australia continued to outperform capital cities, with 62 markets, led by regional South Australia, recording a 100 per cent rate of profit-making sales over five years.
Just nine capital city LGAs matched that level of profitability, six of them in Adelaide.
Brisbane led the capital cities with a near-perfect 99.7 per cent profit-making rate and the highest resale gain of $400,000.
A view of the seaside town of Kiama, which topped the nation for the most profitable residential property market over the June quarter
Coastal regions recorded the biggest profits for sellers over the past three months
Adelaide followed with a 99.1 per cent profit rate, and Perth came in at 98 per cent.
At the other end of the spectrum, Darwin had the highest rate of loss-making sales (20.6 per cent) followed by Melbourne (10.6 per cent), Sydney (7.7 per cent), Hobart (7.2 per cent) and the ACT (6.7 per cent).
The Cotality data analysed 97,000 resales and found nearly 95 per cent of transactions turned a profit.
Cotality’s head of research, Eliza Owen, said the median gain from resales hit a new record, while losses narrowed.
‘Across all profit-making resales nationally, we saw a median nominal gain of $315,000 for sellers recorded in the June quarter,’ she said.
‘This was a record high, up from $305,000 in the previous quarter, and the decade average of $250,000.’
Ms Owen said the national median loss fell to $42,000, down from a high of $45,000 in the December quarter of 2024, with 5.2 per cent of sellers incurring losses despite stronger selling conditions.
Nearly 60 per cent of that increase came from Sydney and Melbourne unit resales, totalling around 2,500 loss-making transactions.
Cotality’s head of research Eliza Owen said NSW dominates list of most profitable markets
All the regions with the lowest profits were located in regional towns across Australia
Ms Owen said the uptick in loss-making sales in these areas was driven by multiple factors but noted the trend may already be reversing
‘Many of these losses are concentrated in markets that still haven’t returned to their peak values,’ she said.
‘The top 10 markets for loss-making resales accounted for a third of all losses in the quarter, compared to one quarter over the decade average.
‘Some owners may also be cutting their losses as conditions improve, choosing to sell after holding for long periods.’
The combined value of gains in the June quarter was $36.6b, up from $33.3 billion in the March quarter however the combined loss for sellers deepened to $292 million.
Domain chief of research and economics Nicola Powell said ‘affordable’ homes were becoming unaffordable with mortgage costs the highest in decades.
Ms Powell said the time to save for a home deposit is now more than eight years, up from six in the early 2000s, and mortgage repayments now take up 54 per cent of household income, a 20-year high.
‘Nationally, over 68 per cent of the population born between 1947 and 1951 owned a home by the age of 30-34,’ she said.
‘Today only 50 per cent of those aged 30-34 own a home.
‘In NSW the difference is even starker at only 45 per cent.’
