87.7 per cent of homes resell for a profit over this year's March quarter, while only a minor portion of resales at a loss attributed to COVID-19 shows latest report.
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The latest edition of the Pain and Gain report analyses around 72,500 sales that took place over the first quarter of 2020.
It highlights how many of these sales made a nominal loss or gain relative to the previous sale.
Nationally, the portion of profit-making sales in the March quarter fell to 87.7% from 88.7% in the December quarter.
The total value of gross profit derived from resold dwellings was $19.8 billion.
This is down 12.0% from the $22.5 billion gained over the December 2019 quarter, though substantially higher than the $14.3 billion in profit-making sales over March 2019 when housing the housing market broadly remained in a downturn.
Losses totalled $908.6 million in the March quarter, up from $766 million in the December 2019 quarter.
Only a small portion of the loss making sales are a reflection of the onset of the pandemic
- Eliza Owen
Eliza Owen, head of research on the latest pain and gain results "There has been an uplift in the portion of loss-making sales over the March quarter.
"But despite the potential for some fallout from COVID-19 at the end of the quarter, only a small portion of the loss-making sales are a reflection of the onset of the pandemic."
CoreLogic estimates of modelled sales volumes suggest that there was a 32.4% decline in transaction activity in April 2020, which then recovered over May and June.
"The Pain and Gain results over the second half of 2020 could see an increase in the portion of loss-making sales, but the volume of sales activity may be more subdued, as vendors were less likely to test the market at the height of the pandemic.
"However, assistance for mortgage holders whose jobs and incomes have been impacted by the pandemic was likely also instrumental in keeping loss-making sales low," said Owen.