Property Market Update Tuesday 9 July 2019

Loss making property sales go up

12 per cent of all residential properties sold in the first three months of 2019 fetched a sale price lower than the vendor’s purchase price.

The proportion of properties resold at a loss increased to 12.1 per cent from just over 10 per cent in the December quarter according to the latest CoreLogic ‘Pain and Gain’ report. This is the worst result in 6 years.

Every capital city has recorded a rise in loss making property sales but the highest share of property sales losses was in Perth (24.8 per cent) and Sydney (19.9 per cent).

Good news for buyers as investors sell up

16.7 per cent of residential properties sold by investors in the first three months of 2019 were sold at a loss for the vendor according to CoreLogic.

“In a falling market, investors have the benefit of taxation rules,” said Cameron Kusher from CoreLogic.

“[Investors might] be more prepared to incur a loss because they can offset those losses against future capital gains,” said Cameron Kusher.

CoreLogic noted that investors selling out of the market could deliver more supply for first home buyers and others at a time when demand for housing remains weak.