Real profits rise in Hobart area

GREATER Hobart homeowners have continued to rake in the profits when selling their property in the past three months.

From $58,500 in the Derwent Valley up to $254,345 in Hobart, median profits surged higher in the June quarter than the levels they were at in March, a report has revealed.

Only the Clarence municipality sat at virtually the same level when compared quarter to quarter. There was just a few hundred dollars difference in its June and March profit figures.

CoreLogic’s Pain and Gain report for the June quarter — released today — revealed very few instances of Greater Hobart homes sold at a loss compared to the previous time a property was sold.

More than 96.5 per cent of properties in each Hobart municipality recorded profit-making sales, except for the Derwent Valley, which was about 90.9 per cent.

Kingborough led the charge with 98.6 per cent of homes sold in the quarter recording a profit.

The municipality’s median profit was $184,500, almost $10,000 higher than the previous quarter.

Compared to the March quarter, most Hobart suburbs had loss-making sales tick upward by a few percentage points. However, this did not dampen the upward trajectory of median profits with most areas trending higher this quarter.

CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said Hobart’s strong market had been recording a record number of profit-making sales.

However, he said an increase in loss-making sales was indicative of a slowing market.

“While the proportion of loss-making sales has been increasing, these figures are only starting to rise from a very strong base,” he said.

“We are starting to see affordability constraints in the Hobart market and a few cracks emerging after really high levels of capital gain.

“I think it is more than just the seasonal cooling, it looks to me to be the start of a slightly softer market than we have seen in the past couple of years.”

Rain & Horne Kingston director and Kingborough resident for decades, Paul Guest, has had a front-row seat to this booming corner of the local market.

He said there were still many people looking to buy in Kingborough but little stock on the market to sell.

“There is so much competition these days, everything is being priced ‘offers over’ with sellers in the driver’s seat to achieve excellent results,” he said.

“I’ve not experienced that in Kingborough before.”

The combined value of profit-making sales throughout Greater Hobart was $134.3 million in June with just $1.595 million in loss-making sales.

Greater Hobart accounted for less than 1 per cent of profits nationally and 0.3 per cent of losses.

For more information visit corelogic.com.au.