More regional homeowners have gotten rich from property than city dwellers
More regional homeowners are making six-figure sums from property than city dwellers, fresh national profit data shows.
In country areas, 96.1 per cent of houses (combined regional) sold for a profit in the last financial year, compared to 96 per cent for the combined capitals. For units, the figures were 94.6 per cent in regional postcodes and 89.4 per for metro addresses.
The amount of profit banked by country owners for houses is less than those in the big smoke – $245,000 in regional zones, and $395,000 in metro areas.
But for units, it’s a tale of the grass is greener. Units in regional Australia ticked over with $196,000 profit, against city units making $163,000.
| Table 1. The proportion of profit and loss-making resales. | ||||
| Location | Houses | Units | ||
| Profit | Loss | Profit | Loss | |
| Australia | 96.0% | 4.0% | 90.7% | 9.3% |
| Combined capitals | 96.0% | 4.0% | 89.4% | 10.6% |
| Combined regionals | 96.1% | 3.9% | 94.6% | 5.4% |
| Sydney | 95.6% | 4.4% | 89.4% | 10.6% |
| Melbourne | 97.9% | 2.1% | 85.3% | 14.7% |
| Brisbane | 99.5% | 0.5% | 95.6% | 4.4% |
| Adelaide | 96.8% | 3.2% | 89.9% | 10.1% |
| Perth | 97.1% | 2.9% | 91.1% | 8.9% |
| Canberra | 94.0% | 6.0% | 94.4% | 5.6% |
| Hobart | 96.8% | 3.2% | 96.3% | 3.7% |
| Darwin | 88.4% | 11.6% | 68.2% | 31.8% |
The trend of a greater volume of country vendors reaping profits over city vendors has occurred for the first time since 2009.
The contrast in Domain’s 2024 Profit and Loss Report is most sharp in the unit market.
For 12 years, city units sold at higher profit margins than regional units. However, in 2021, that switched and regional units started making more profits than city units.
“This shift is attributed to lower upfront costs, greater pricing resilience, and a structural change in buyer preferences driven by the pandemic,” the Domain’s report said.
/http%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F016d5722-6a06-447b-bd13-f21c7e7356dd)
Domain’s chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said houses have performed better on the bottom line because owners hold onto them while their value grows.
“As Australia grapples with record pricing, it is unsurprising that the pool of profit-making sales has risen, as the likelihood of profitability increases as prices rise,” she said in the report.
“This trend is more pronounced for houses than for units and various factors contribute to these differences, including housing preferences,
development cycles, and tenure, as units are typically held for shorter periods.
“Additionally, house prices have generally experienced higher rates of growth compared to unit price.”
She said the profit margins “indicate how valuable it is for Australians to get into the property market” whenever they can.
“We need to ensure that buying a home is affordable and accessible to everyone, as having an asset that increases in value can really help financial stability in the future,” she said.
The apartment is in the Mariner Bay complex, and the buyer can luxuriate in the lagoon-style pool that the building is well known for.
We recommend
We thought you might like
States
Capital Cities
Capital Cities - Rentals
Popular Areas
Allhomes
More
