The Newcastle property market suffered a 240 per cent increase in the number of loss-making house sales in the March quarter.
Figures from property analysts CoreLogic show the proportion of houses and units which sold at a loss, compared with their previous purchase price, rose from 3.7 per cent in December to 9 per cent in March.
CoreLogic's Pain and Gain report said the number of loss-making transactions had grown from 51 to 120 before the coronavirus hit.
It said the highest loss-making sales were in Waratah, where owners of loss-making properties had held them for a "low" average of 3.3 years.
The report found the ratio of profit-making sales across Australia had fallen slightly, from 88.7 to 87.7 per cent, in March.
It said the pandemic could have a relatively minor impact on profit- or loss-making sales as owners were likely to keep properties off the market.
Units (19.8 per cent) had a much higher proportion of loss-making sales across the country than houses (9.7 per cent).
Investors (16.8 per cent) bore a higher proportion of loss-making sales than owner-occupiers (10.3 per cent).
The Newcastle result was below the national average of 12.3 per cent despite the large increase in loss-making sales.
The Newcastle Herald reported last week that Newcastle and Hunter property prices remained stable in June, defying falls in Sydney, Melbourne and across the nation.
Hunter house prices continued to hold up in June despite tens of thousands of job losses across the region since coronavirus restrictions began.
Property prices rose 0.1 per cent across the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas last month and fell 0.1 per cent in the rest of the Hunter.
