PROFITS OF BOOM

REVEALED Hobart home sales making average $250k

HOBART homeowners are making an average profit of almost $250,000 each when they sell thanks to the city’s property price boom.

And residents of the capital’s surrounding council areas are also cleaning up, with new figures showing the median profit made on properties sold in Kingborough over the past three months was $118,175. In Clarence it was $112,500. And 99 per cent of Hobart vendors are making money on the sale, no matter how long they have owned the property.

HOMEOWNERS in the Hobart, Kingborough and Clarence municipalities made profits of well over $100,000 each when selling their homes in the September quarter.

Kingborough homeowners made a median profit of $118,175 while Clarence homeowners made $112,500, said the CoreLogic RP Data quarterly Pain and Gain report — which measures the profit and loss of dwelling sales compared to a property’s previous sales figure.

In Hobart the figure was larger still with sky-high median profits of $242,500. The report put a spotlight on the tightening of the market throughout Greater Hobart.

Most areas recorded profitable resales above 90 per cent with some areas such as Hobart and Kingston as high as 98 or 99 per cent — meaning barely one or two in every 100 sales in these areas were at a loss.

Only the Derwent Valley recorded profit sales below 90 per cent.

However, at 83.3 per cent, the municipality’s profits have grown by about 10 per cent compared with the September quarter results last year (73.7 per cent).

Throughout Greater Hobart the total value of the profits made was $111,096,070 while the losses totalled $1,652,871.

Harcourts Hobart property consultant Colin Miller said since the GFC there had been quite a few years of static price movement in Hobart, so this upward shift in prices, although rapid and abrupt in appearance, had been a long while coming.

“We will continue to see market strength through and beyond summer,” he said. “Aside from the low interest rate, supply-demand and business confidence metrics, the fact that we have employment and population growth will underpin this housing market buoyancy.”

Downton Property principal Nat Downton said she was expecting next year to “continue to boom”.

There was no sign of the market slowing down: “I expect Tasmania will continue to break records.”

Mrs Downton said the average days on market figure at her business had been about five days before a property was sold.

CoreLogic’s report found that Hobart unit owners were sitting pretty. Of those who owned their unit for less than five years and sold it in the September quarter, 98.3 per cent made a profit, which was the highest percentage in Australia.

Short-term house sellers in Hobart recorded similar figures — 97.1 per cent profit — but this figure was bettered by Melbourne and the ACT.

View the full report at corelog ic.com.au/paingainreport.