Almost every Australian home resale turns a healthy profit: Domain

Australian owners are selling their properties from a position of extraordinary financial strength, with new data showing almost every property resale nationwide is delivering a profit.

Domain’s latest Profit and Loss Report reveals 97.5% of house resales and 88.3% of unit resales in Australia are now profitable, with median gains hitting $440,000 for houses and $228,000 for units nationwide.

But beneath the headline figures, a major shift is reshaping Australia’s housing wealth story, with Perth and Brisbane emerging as the new powerhouses of property profits.

The details

Domain’s report shows that for the first time in around 15 years, the centre of gravity for housing gains has shifted away from Sydney and Melbourne.

“Both Perth and Brisbane have delivered record amounts of profits, and it says a lot about the market over the past five to six years,” says Domain’s Chief of Research and Economics, Nicola Powell.

“They are market leaders now, and that has created a unique position of wealth for houses.”

In both cities, 99.5% of house resales are now profitable, with sellers banking median gains of $580,000 in Brisbane and $528,000 in Perth.

In many cases, that profit is approaching what entire homes in those two cities were worth just a decade ago.

The boom has also spread to apartments, with Brisbane overtaking Sydney as the most profitable unit market in the country, delivering a median gain of $325,000 and a near-universal profit success rate.

Domain says this marks a structural shift in where housing wealth is being created, with “western markets leading on breadth of gains, Sydney leading on depth, and Brisbane bridging both.”

Despite losing its top spot for the share of profitable resales, Sydney remains Australia’s equity heavyweight.

The Harbour City continues to deliver the largest median gains in the country at $750,000 for houses, underscoring its dominance in sheer dollar returns.

Across the country, the scale and consistency of gains point to what Domain says is a mature phase of the housing cycle, where years of price growth are now being realised as sellers cash in.

For the first time in 15 years, every capital city has recorded more than 90% of house resales at a profit, highlighting how broadly housing wealth has spread across Australia.

Interestingly, the Domain report shows profitability is strongest in what it calls “bread and butter suburban markets”, not high-end or prestige markets.

Sydney saw St. Marys (100%) and Campbelltown (99.3%) top the leaderboard for profitable resales.

Melbourne’s top areas were all in the city’s sprawling south-east and east, with Frankston (98.7%), Knox (98.1%) and Dandenong (98.1) dominating.

Despite the windfall gains, most of the money isn’t leaving the property market.

“The vast majority of that wealth is rolled back into the housing market, and it’s almost a strong demonstration of what continues to underpin price growth,” Dr Powell says.

“What we see in practice is most people reinvest into another home… You only have cash wealth when you are downsizing… or exit the market entirely.”

This recycling of equity - through upgrading, downsizing and intergenerational transfers - is helping sustain demand even as affordability pressures intensify.

But it is also widening the gap between those already in the market and those trying to break in.

“The real winners are those who are in the market, and the losers are those trying to get in,” Dr Powell says.

Domain says the largest resale losses were concentrated in areas that experienced strong price growth in earlier years.

These included Penrith in Sydney, Melbourne’s Bayside area, The Gap-Enoggera in Brisbane and Kwiwana in Perth.

While in dollar terms, some of these losses appear significant – particularly in higher-priced Sydney and Perth suburbs – Domain says the figures often reflect small numbers of transactions and individual purchase timing.

Importantly, Domain says the majority of properties within these areas are still reselling at a profit.

With owners typically holding properties for around nine years, allowing gains to compound across multiple property cycles, Domain’s Profit and Loss report suggests Australia’s housing divide may continue to deepen, even as record profits keep flowing to those already on the property ladder.