Most homes sell for strong profit margin Property

There was a small drop in the percentage of people who sold their home for a profit in the first quarter of this year, new figures show.

CoreLogic’s latest Pain and Gain report found 99.1% of properties nationwide were resold for more than they were purchased for in the three months to March.

That was down from 99.3% in the last part of last year, but it was a marginal decline and left the percentage of profit earning resales higher than they were at the same time last year.

There was also a drop in the national median resale profit to $406,000, from a record high of $435,000 at the end of 2021.

This meant it was still the second-highest profit in the 26 years the data had been collected. Two years ago, in the prepandemic first quarter of 2020, the median resale gain was $233,632.

Across the main centres, Auckland and Wellington had the biggest falls in the portion of properties resold for a profit, with declines of 1.8% and 1.3% respectively.

Christchurch and Dunedin had no change in the proportion of profit making resales between quarters, while in Hamilton and Tauranga they increased with all sales making a profit.

But Auckland had a median resale gain of $558,500, while in Wellington and Tauranga the median resale profit was over $530,000.

Hamilton, Christchurch and Dunedin had median gains of $425,000, $319,855 and $355,000 respectively.

Just 0.9% of resales nationwide over the first quarter were made at a loss, or for below the original purchase price, and the national median resale’s loss was $37,500.

CoreLogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said the figures showed the resale performance of properties had started to weaken, as was consistent with the wider market slowdown.

But it was nothing dramatic yet and it might be some time before there were more substantial declines in profit-making resales, he said.

‘‘There’s no doubt that these figures are still strong, both in the frequency and size of the gains.

‘‘We shouldn’t necessarily expect the turning point for the wider market to flow through significantly and immediately to these figures, due to the fact that hold periods play a key role,’’ Davidson said.