Where Are Most Distressed Property Sales Happening in Australia?

The Gold Coast has the most distressed sales in the country, while Victoria has the least
Photo: Jeff Turner

SQM Research has revealed thousands of residential properties selling under distressed conditions on the market, via our recently released Distressed Properties Report.

The report has revealed:

• 11,437 properties in total are selling under distressed conditions, representing 3.3 per cent of total current listings (stock on market).
• 304 properties currently advertised as mortgagee in possession.
• 1,200 additional properties selling under ‘forced’ selling conditions.

The region with the largest number of distressed sales is the ‘Gold Coast Main’ with 14.6 per cent of its market in distress.

Victoria has least amount of distressed listings as a percentage of the total market, at just 1.4 per cent.

What we have been able to do here is a national first and opens the way for property buyers to efficiently search for these types of properties.

In addition, we are also able to provide these homes’ advertising history, date and price of that they last sold for.

“The region with the largest number of distressed sales is the ‘Gold Coast Main’ with 14.6 per cent of its market in distress.”

While the major listers enable some manual searches of these properties, it is impossible to search for them in bulk and multiple distressed key terms with their marketing and sold history. For our subscribers we are now filling this void.

We also believe the data from this report will be a useful measurement of market conditions. We intend to update the public each month on changes in the amount of properties offered under distressed conditions.

Overall, the expectation is that there will be rises in distressed properties during market downturns or a rising interest rate environment, and falls during market upturns and an improving economy.

The tables below reveal the market share of distressed listings in each state and as well as some of the highest regions:

 
As mentioned in previous releases, a distressed listing is defined by SQM Research as a property being offered for sale where it is advertised that the property is sold under any of the following conditions:

• Mortgagee in possession, bank forced sale or liquidation event
• Selling below valuation, cost or last sold price
• Heavily reduced or bargain conditions
• Divorced sale, deceased estate, illness conditions
• Requirement for an immediate sale conditions

The distressed properties report also includes overseas seller listings, price reduction listings and other listings that may indicate a potential distressed sale such as ‘submit all offers’; however, these classifications have not made the count in this media release.