Riverina house sales net a median profit of $120,000 in June 2021 quarter

CoreLogic profit and loss figures show the vast majority of homes sold for a profit in the Riverina between June and August this year, outperforming national rates.

Some 97.2 per cent of homes in the region sold for a profit in the three-month window, compared with 91.5 per cent of sales nationally.

Overall, the real estate market across the region netted more than $112 million in sale profits.

OneAgency real estate agent Holly Newbigging said the figures ring true with what she is seeing on the ground.

"Wagga has always been a profitable and stable market, however the current figures we are achieving - I have never seen anything like this in my 18 years in real estate," Ms Newbigging told The Daily Advertiser.

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"The majority of properties sold in Wagga are selling at the top end of the scale or above the owner's expectation."

LJ Hooker's Richard Rossiter said the $120,000 median profit figure seemed extremely high, but pointed out many homes in Wagga are held for up to 10 years before they are listed, which could account for the huge increase.

"The average hold period is over 10 years in Wagga, [so] these could be houses that last sold 10, 20 or 30 years ago," he said.

Regardless, he said the data on the level of profit-making sales is unsurprising given the historic growth he has observed in the past 12 months.

"The market is in the strongest growth phase it has had in many years, if not ever," he said.

CoreLogic's head of research Eliza Owens said the Riverina is mimicking a trend being seen across the state, describing it as a "seller's market".

She said overall dwelling values are up 17.5 per cent in the year to August, and days on market have plummeted from 79 days this time last year to 48 days in the June quarter.

"Low stock levels, low interest rates and higher levels of migration to regional NSW have made this housing market more competitive for buyers," she said.

However, Ms Owens said that quarter on quarter figures show the Riverina boom could be beginning to fizzle.

"While the housing boom rolled on across the region, quarterly growth in the three months to August slowed slightly to 5.7 per cent," she said.

"Trends in capital growth tend to guide trends in the rate of profit-making sales, so that's where we could see the rate of profitability steady, or rise but at a slower pace."

Not all sales raked in a profit, however. The same data shows 2.8 per cent of all sales in the region made a loss in the time period.

The median decrease on a dwelling that sold at a loss was $20,000. Overall, $4 million in sale losses were recorded in the region.

Mr Rossiter said for the small margin of homes that sold at a loss it could be a case of their value simply going up in smoke.

"An example of value dropping is a house in Ashmont I sold previously that has since burnt down," Mr Rossiter said.

"That house [originally sold] between $120,000 to $130,000 and I've just sold it for $58,000 because with significant damage to the property, the house had to be demolished."

"I've sold numerous houses where that seems to be the story," he said. "That would be one explanation for the small sample size."

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