Smaller cities and regional centres are leading the nation on capital gains, according to CoreLogic’s quarterly Pain and Gain report.
The report, which compares the prices of properties sold in the September Quarter with their previous sale, found that Hobart was the national leader – 98% of houses sold made a gross profit (sold for more than the vendors originally paid).
Next best was Regional Victoria, where 96.9% of houses sold for a price higher than the vendors paid previously, in joint second place with Canberra (also 96.9%)
Then came Melbourne where 96.6% of vendors made a gross profit and Regional Tasmania, where 96.4% made capital gains.
Around 95% of Brisbane sold for gains, as did over 92% of Adelaide houses.
Regional New South Wales (94.3%) did a little better than Sydney (92.1%).
Overall, nationwide, 90% of houses sold at higher prices than the vendors originally paid, with the capital city average (90.3%) very similar to the regional average (89.5%).
Apartments were less profitable than houses – nationwide, 80.2% of units made gains, with the regions (82%) doing better on average than the capital cities (79.5%).
The best-performing apartment markets were Hobart (98.5%), Regional Tasmania (96.3%) and Regional Victoria (94.2%), followed by Regional NSW (92.1%) – which were all well above national averages.
The apartment markets in Sydney (87%) and Melbourne (85%) were moderate performers for vendors.
In some of the struggling apartment markets, only 63% of Brisbane units sold for a profit and only 48% of Perth units made money for the vendors. Darwin had the nation’s worst-performing apartment market, with just 38% of properties selling for a capital gain.