Australian homeowners who sold up in the September quarter made a record profit, according to a report, despite challenging conditions.

The median profit for home-sellers during that period reached $295,000, the highest figure since property data company CoreLogic started its Pain & Gain report in the 1990s.

CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said the strong result was unexpected.

“It is a kind of surprise, to be honest, because we’ve started to see a slowdown in market conditions towards the end of 2024 with a higher number of listings available for sale, the [auction[ clearance rate softening and the growth in home value slowing to 1 per cent by November,” she said.

Brisbane was the most profitable city with 99.4 per cent of houses sold in the September quarter selling for a profit. It is the second time running that the Queensland capital has taken out the quarterly position.

“This comes back to a massive windfall gains in home values across Brisbane over a relatively short period, which means that even if you only bought into the market recently you have a high profitability of making a profit from resale,” Owen said.

In the September quarter, Adelaide had the second-highest profitable sales, with 99 per cent of home sales turning a profit then.

The median profit for homes in Adelaide was $358,000.

In terms of the city where homeowners made the biggest profit, that was Sydney, with vendors taking home a median gain of $370,000.

“Overall, Australian home-sellers continue to see largely profitable results,” Owen said.

Melbourne was the only capital city to have a fall in the rate of profit-making sales over the quarter, down to 90.1 per cent.

However, sellers in the Victorian capital still enjoyed a median profit of $294,000.

Why are we still on a high?

“Overall, Australian home-sellers continue to see largely profitable results, underpinned by strong growth in home values over time,” Owen said.

She said strict regulations around home loans in Australia, including serviceability requirements, also ensured there were fewer risky borrowers.

“The prudential nature of home lending has also supported strong rates of profitability, where vendors are generally able to hold their property from sale during weak selling conditions,” Owen said.

She said this generally led to lower listings volumes and new housing construction when dwelling demand was weak.

“A decline in home values is only a problem for sellers if they have issues servicing home loan repayments or are in some other circumstance where they need to sell,” she said.

“Otherwise, homeowners can simply hold their properties back from the market until there is stronger buyer demand.”

This property in Brighton, where the median profit was $922,500, has a price guide of $3.6 million to $3.9 million. Photo: Supplied

Where profits were in the millions

Nationally, some areas had profits of more than a million dollars in the September quarter.

The local government area of Canada Bay, which includes the inner-western Sydney waterfront suburbs Abbotsford, Drummoyne and Canada Bay, had a median profit of $1.199 million.

Meanwhile, Ku-ring-gai on Sydney’s north shore, had a median price rise of $1.155 million.

In Melbourne, the city of Bayside, which includes high-end suburbs such as Brighton, had median profits of $922,500.

This story was first published on View.com.au. Read the original here