More signs of the slowing economy.

Property analysts CoreLogic says the rate of loss-making home sales rose over the first three months of the year as home prices decreased.

However, the vast majority of homes still made a profit on their resale with a median nominal gain of $276,500 nationally. 

The median loss was $40,000. 

CoreLogic's Pain &  Gain report found the percentage of dwellings that made a gain on their resale declined for the third quarter in a row to 92.3 per cent from a high of 94.2 per cent over the three months to May 2022.

And an increasing number of homes sold had been owned for less than two years.

Here's Eliza Owen, head of research at CoreLogic:

“Such short selling times that involve sellers incurring a loss may be considered unusual, because hold periods typically increase during housing value downturns, as sellers try to avoid making a loss,” Ms Owen says.

“The implication may be that some sellers are choosing to incur a loss from resale in order to avoid particularly high mortgage repayments in the current rate-hiking environment."

Profit making sales were highest in Hobart, Canberra and Adelaide.

Darwin, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne saw an increase in loss making sales, with 10.7 per cent of sales in Sydney making a loss over the March quarter.

Nearly 30 per cent of homes were sold at a loss in Darwin.