Nearly one in three homes sold in the September quarter went for more than twice their purchase price, but nearly one in 11 were sold for less than they cost to buy.
Regional areas in Western Australia and Queensland had the highest proportion of loss-making sales, reflective of an underperformance of coastal markets, the latest CoreLogic RP Data Pain and Gain report found.
Home units in lifestyle markets generally fared worst.
"Recent data highlights the growing weakness in markets linked to the mining and resources sector where values are generally falling," CoreLogic RP Data research analyst Cameron Kusher said on Tuesday.
The Pain and Gain report is based on a comparison of home sale prices in the September quarter with the prices last paid for the same dwelling.
The report showed:
- 9.3 per cent of homes sold in the September quarter sold for less than their purchase price, with an average gross loss of $62,246. Total losses were $383 million.
- The average gross profit on the 90.7 per cent of homes sold above their previous purchase price was $223,870, with total gains of $13.5 billion.
- The sale price was more than double the purchase price for 30.1 per cent of homes sold in the quarter.
- The overall proportion of loss-making sales is trending down after peaking at 11 per cent a year ago.
- There are wide regional variations in trends: loss-making sales are falling in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart, but rising Perth, Darwin and Canberra.
- The highest proportion of loss-making sales was in regional Western Australia (22.5 per cent) and regional Queensland (22.0 per cent).
- The lowest proportion of loss-making sales was in Sydney (2.6 per cent).
- 47.5 per cent of homes bought before January 2008 were sold for more than double their purchase price, while only 4.1 per cent of homes bought after then doubled their sale value.
- Homes bought after January 2008 were three times more likely (15.2 per cent) to be sold at less than their purchase price than homes bought prior to January 2008 (5.2 per cent).