Mackay is the most painful location for property vendors across Australia: CoreLogic
Nine out of 10 people who re-sold a property during the March 2017 quarter earned themselves a profit, according the CoreLogic Pain & Gain March 2017 quarter report.
The total gross losses realised over the quarter was recorded at $493.8 million with a median gross loss of $35,000 per re-sale.
The CoreLogic Pain & Gain report reveals Mackay ranked among the worst.
Areas linked to mining and resources sector continue to be some of the weakest housing markets across the country, the report noted.
Although transaction volumes appear to have bottomed in many of these regions, values have generally continued to fall albeit at a slower pace.
The reported noted although more than half of all resales in Mackay were at a loss over the quarter, it noted there are signs that in some of the weakest markets conditions are starting to improve.
The proportion of resales at a loss has fallen in Mackay from a peak of 61.8%.
"Although there has been a moderate improvement in a number of these regions it is anticipated that the instances of resales at a loss will remain elevated in these regions.
"Although transaction volumes are generally no longer falling demand remains low and there are still many that bought at or near the market peak looking to sell and likely to incur losses when they do eventually sell their property," it noted.
A two bedroom unit at 4/361 Alfred Street, Mackay (above) was recently sold for $149,000 after being sold in 2011 for $330,000.
A two bedroom house at 11 Baxter Street, Mackay (below) was recently sold for $160,000 after being sold in 2009 for $340,000 and in 2003 for $172,000.
A three bedroom unit at 1/60 George Street, Mackay (below) was recently sold for $230,000 after being sold in 2014 for $328,000 and in 2007 for $368,000.
A four bedroom house at 1 Grant Street, Mackay (below) was recently sold for $260,000 after being sold in 2010 for $340,000.
A three bedroom house at 3 Hamlet Street, Mackay (below) was recently sold for $320,000 after being sold in 2014 for $248,000 and in 2011 $358,000.
A three bedroom house at 17 Hucker Street, Mackay (below) was recently sold for $175,000 after being sold in 2008 for $280,000.
Queensland municipalities, Lockyer Valley, Somerset and Ipswich proved tough markets too.
Across the capital cities, vendors reselling earnings were varied: Sydney resales earned 97.8%, Melbourne 95.3%, Adelaide 92.5% and Hobart 95.4% while vendors in Darwin 63.0%, Perth 76.8%, Canberra 90.4% and Brisbane 90.8% profit earnings were significantly less.
In the regional areas of the country the top resale earners were in the Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven at 98.8%, Illawarra at 98.6%, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie at 98.2%, Sydney at 97.8% and Geelong at 97.3%. The biggest regional losses came from regional areas closely linked to the mining and resources sector. The Pain & Gain regional results found that 11.1% of houses resold for less than their previous purchase price over the first quarter of 2017. By proportion, regional house sales losses were marginally higher than the 11.0% over the December 2016 quarter and slightly higher than the 10.9% in March 2016.
CoreLogic report author Cameron Kusher said there is still a relatively high proportion of units in regional Australia reselling at a loss (17.2%) however, the proportion of loss making unit sales has shifted substantially lower as lifestyle markets see buyer demand rebounding and mining regions approach the bottom of their cycle.
At the end of 2016, 17.9% of regional units had resold at a loss and in March 2016 quarter the proportion was recorded at 19.7% of all properties. The 17.2% of regional units resold at a loss is the lowest proportion since the December 2010 quarter.
“While the proportion of loss making sales has started to reduce in some of these regions, there remains a high willingness from home owners to sell up coupled with little demand to purchase. As a result we are seeing a high proportion of vendors materializing their losses,” Mr Kusher said.