The Pain and Gain survey showed that coastal regions were more likely to generate profits and on the Sunshine Coast it was almost impossible to lose with 99.5 per cent of sales achieving a nominal gain.

Nationally the median holding period for profit-making resales was 9.2 years and while properties held for more than 30 years had the highest total median return ($770,000), properties held for two years or less had the highest nominal gain per year of $150,500.

Regional Australia had a higher rate of profit than Australia’s combined capitals at 94 per cent versus 93.7 per cent, respectively.

CoreLogic’s head of research Eliza Owen Investors said investors had a lower incidence of profitability (91.4 per cent) than owner occupier sellers (96.7 per cent). This was likely to be because of the higher incidence of unit ownership among investors.

The report analysed approximately 133,000 resales of property that occurred over the course of the December 2021 quarter, a significant uplift from the 99,000 dwelling resale transactions during the September quarter, which coincided with lockdown restrictions in many parts of the country.

The national median nominal gain was $319,000 with total resale profits of $38 billion over the December quarter. The median loss was $34,000.