- 95.4% of Australian home sales returned a profit in the June quarter
- It marks a downturn in the recent record run of resale results, falling from 96.1% in the March quarter
- The median gain also dropped to $371,000 nationally, down $7,000 over the quarter
Just over 95% of residential resales delivered a nominal profit in the June quarter, down from 96.1% the previous quarter.
The median gain also fell from a record $378,000 to $371,000, while the median loss increased by $1,000 to $45,000.
Cotality's latest 'Pain and Gain' report analysed more than 94,000 home resales over the quarter, noting national sales numbers had also dropped from 101,000 during the March quarter.
This coincided with a 1.5% fall in Australia's dwelling values over the three months to June.
See also: Housing slump spreads as Adelaide and Brisbane join the slide
Houses outperform units
Houses retain a profitability advantage over units with 97.8% of house sales returning a profit compared to 90.5% of unit sales.
However, most unit losses remained concentrated in Melbourne and Sydney, the two cities accounting for 83.3% of losses by value.
Units also dragged city profitability lower than regional markets where 97.5% of resales made a profit compared to 94.1% across the combined capitals.
Brisbane retained top spot for overall profitability with 99.8% of sales returning profits in the June quarter with a nominal gain of $525,000, only slightly softer than the March result.
Adelaide (98.9%) and Perth (98.8%) were close behind while Melbourne recorded the lowest share of profitable resales at 89%, down from 90.7% in March.
'Modest change'
Cotality's head of research Gerard Burg said despite the change in resale conditions, many homeowners retained a substantial equity buffer after several years of strong value growth.
See also: Home Equity Calculator
"Profitability is still exceptionally high by historical standards but we are starting to see the impact of weaker housing market conditions flow through to the resale outcomes," Mr Burg said.
"Most sellers are still benefiting from the significant value growth accumulated over the past five years, which is providing considerable protection against the early stages of the downturn."
However, Mr Burg said with home values falling across more markets, that buffer will become increasingly important in determining sales outcomes.
Years in the market good protection
Time in the market continues to provide significant protection against short-term fluctuations in home values.
Profitable resales in the June quarter were held for a median 9.1 years nationally while loss-making sales had a shorter median hold period of 8.1 years.
Houses that sold for a profit were typically held for 9.3 years compared with 4.4 years for loss-making house resales.
Mr Burg said this placed many loss-making house purchases around 2022 when home values were close to their previous peak before rising interest rates triggered a national slowdown.
"Owners who have held their property for nine or 10 years have generally experienced several periods of value growth, giving them a much larger equity buffer when market conditions weaken," he said.
"Recent buyers have had much less time to accumulate those gains and are therefore more exposed when values fall, particularly if they bought close to a market peak."
What's ahead?
Mr Burg said the June quarter marked the beginning of a more challenging period for resale profitability.
Cotality's home value index peaked in March and has been dropping since, led by steeper falls in the Sydney and Melbourne markets.
"Affordability and mortgage serviceability were already constraining buyers before the downturn with three interest rate increases in the first half of 2026, higher cost-of-living pressures, weaker consumer sentiment and changes affecting property investors adding further pressure on housing demand," he said.
"There is significant uncertainly around the short-term economic outlook, particularly the direction of interest rates and increasing pressure on household budgets.
"If housing values continue to fall, we would expect that to place further downward pressure on resale profitability over the coming quarters."
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