Behind the smiles and sold stickers, there appears to be a secret story of heartbreak behind a small but rapidly growing segment of home sales.

Figures from CoreLogic show a record 16 per cent of sales early this year were properties that had last changed hands less than three years prior.

Typically, this can be a sign of a hot property market, where investors are flipping houses and apartments to make a quick (and tax-effective) buck.

There’s probably a bit of this going on, with property prices back at record highs across much of Australia.

But the proportion of quick resales is notably higher than in previous boom markets, so it looks like there’s another factor at play.

As CoreLogic’s Eliza Owen says, that factor appears to be mortgage hardship.

Read more from our business editor, Michael Janda.