House resale prices steady

More than 87 per cent of houses across Australia resold for a profit over the March 2020 quarter, with only a minor portion affected by COVID-19 according to CoreLogic.

CoreLogic analysed approximately 72,500 house sales recorded over the first quarter of 2020, looking at the number of sales that made a nominal loss or gain relative to the previous sale.

Nationally, the number of profit-making sales fell by 1 per cent over the March quarter in comparison to the December quarter.

While the portion of house resales maintained a profit-making position the total value of gross resale profits was down 12 per cent over the quarter. However, these were higher than the corresponding 2019 quarter.

House sale transaction activity declined by 32.4 per cent in April 2020, which then recovered over May and June.

“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 head of research Eliza Owen said.

CoreLogic’s underlying transaction data found that the portion of loss-making sales stayed relatively steady, despite the onset of strict social distancing in March. CoreLogic attributed this to the fact the volume of sales had declined with vendors likely to hold rather than sell due to economic uncertainty.

Nationally, units had a higher portion of loss making sales (19.8 per cent) compared with houses (9.7 per cent).