Perth feels pain in house sales

There was a lot of money made on residential property sales around Australia in the June quarter, but the joy wasn't spread around evenly, with more than 10 per cent of all houses and about 20 per cent of all units sold in Western Australia during the quarter selling at a loss.

Nationally, losses on residential property sales amounted to $411 million in the June quarter, but gains added up to 39 times that, at $16.1 billion.

Of homes sold in the quarter, 9.1 per cent were sold for less than their purchase price, with an average loss of $65,585, according to the Pain and Gain report published by CoreLogic RP Data today.

But the other 90.9 per cent yielded gains averaging $259,174.

And, 30.8 per cent more than doubled their purchase price.

The report also showed the benefit of hanging on to your investment.

Homes sold for less than their purchase price in the quarter had been owned for an average of 5.3 years, while those sold for more than they cost had been held for an average of 9.9 years.

Where sellers at least doubled their money, the average time between transactions was 16.4 years.

Out of the major cities, Perth had the highest proportion of sales making a loss, with 11.5 per cent of houses and 18.7 per cent of units sold for less than what they were purchased for.

Cameron Kusher, CoreLogic RP Data's senior research analyst, said the proportion of loss-making resales was higher in regional areas than in capital cities, but there was a wide variation outside the capitals.

"The trends in regional areas are shifting, with the proportion of loss-making resales trending lower in areas linked to tourism and lifestyle," he said.

"On the other hand, housing markets linked to the resources sector are generally seeing an increase in loss-making resales after housing market conditions in many of these locations have posted a sharp correction."

Sydney had the highest proportion of sales making a gain, with 97.8 per cent of houses and 98.2 per cent of units sold at a profit.

Regional Tasmania had the highest proportion of houses sold at a deficit, at 23 per cent, while 52.6 per cent of units in regional Northern Territory didn't recoup their purchase cost.

Regional Western Australia was close behind, with 19.6 per cent of houses sold at a loss while 22.1 per cent of units were sold at a deficit.