Brisbane's property market continues to be ‘safe as houses’ with new figures showing 93.4 per cent of homes sold at a profit during the last quarter.
But apartment sales continue to struggle, with the share of properties (houses and units combined) resold for a loss at 13 per cent, the highest since September 2013.
The trend mirrors that being reported in other capitals, with resale losses in Sydney at 11 per cent, the highest since August 2009, and 7.7 per cent in Melbourne, its highest since June 2013.
The results were even worse in Perth and Darwin, according to the CoreLogic Pain & Gain June quarter report.
“Across the nation, a higher proportion of houses are resold at a profit than units,” the report said. “This trend is also evident across the combined capital city and combined regional markets.”
The report shows that 6.6 per cent of houses in Brisbane sold at a loss compared to 36.4 per cent of units.
By comparison, 93.4 per cent of houses were sold at a profit, outperforming Sydney houses (91.1 per cent) and the combined capital city average of 89.8 per cent.
In the Brisbane market, the greatest gains were recorded in the Redland, Lockyer Valley and Moreton Bay council regions, where 90.7 per cent, 89.6 per cent and 88.9 per cent of properties sold for a profit, respectively.
Losses were most common in Scenic Rim, according to the report.
In Brisbane, sellers who turned a profit reported a median gain of $192,225, while owners in Redland and Logan celebrated wins of $136,500 and $135,000 respectively.
But CoreLogic’s head of research Tim Lawless said the proportion of profit-making resales across Brisbane had been trending lower since moving through a peak in late 2015, when 94 per cent sold for a profit.
“The trend towards fewer profit making resales is evident across all of the capital cities, reflecting the trend towards lower values over the past few years,” Mr Lawless said.
“With Brisbane housing values now starting to edge higher we should start to see this trend stabilising before gradually rising.”
Looking at regional Queensland, the report found that 84.3 per cent of houses and 73.8 per cent of units resold at a profit.
“The last time we saw the regional area of the state outperform the capital, with regards to the proportion of profit making resales, was in 2006,” Mr Lawless said.
“Regional Queensland housing market conditions have been through a steeper downturn relative to the capital city, with values remaining 5.5 per cent below their 2008 peak compared with a 2.5 per cent drop in Brisbane values from the market peak.”
Looking forward, Mr Lawless said Brisbane’s unit market, which is often skewed towards investors, was “starting to look much healthier” now that supply levels were being absorbed and vacancy rates were coming down.
Overall, Mr Lawless said he would not be surprised to see Brisbane soon outperforming other capital cities.
“Brisbane certainly stands out as having a much lower entry point, with housing values 39 per cent and 23 per cent lower than Sydney and Melbourne values (respectively),” he said.
“Rental yields are substantially higher and housing demand is ramping up on the back of strong migration rates.
“The fundamentals are looking very strong.” Source: realestate.com.au
