- As buyers look to the country, the regions are experiencing unparalleled rise in property values, with several regions reporting double-digit growth
- CoreLogic’s latest Regional Market Update, issued today, indicates that of the 25 regions studied, 24 had double-digit yearly growth in home values
- Remarkably, seven localities had a greater-than-30 per cent gain in house values for the fiscal year ending October 31, 2021
- Across the regional unit market, 18 of the 22 areas witnessed at least a 10 per cent increase in values, with 12 regions seeing more than a 20 per cent increase
The regions are enjoying unprecedented growth in property values, with many regions boasting double-digit growth as buyers look to the country.
Issued today, CoreLogic’s newest Regional Market Update indicates that of the 25 regions studied, 24 had double-digit yearly growth in home values, with more than half enjoying annual increases of more than 20 per cent.
Remarkably, seven localities had a greater-than-30 per cent gain in house values for the fiscal year ending October 31, 2021.
According to CoreLogic’s Research Director Tim Lawless, localised factors influenced each region, but common key drivers included a shift away from capitals and towards regional areas, low interest rates and credit availability, higher household savings, and relatively affordable housing values when compared to capital cities.
“There has been a broad demographic shift where more Australians are prepared to consider housing options outside of the capital cities, which has seen net internal migration rates to regional Australia reach record highs,” he said.
“Working from home looks to have some degree of permanency post-COVID and is one of the catalysts of this trend, with more people basing themselves in regional locations to work remotely or balancing office work with home working.”
The Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven region in New South Wales had the highest performing regional area, with an annual increase rate in home prices of 35.9 per cent, followed by the Richmond – Tweed region in northern New South Wales (32.8 per cent) and Queensland’s Sunshine Coast (32.3 per cent).
“The top performing regional areas were all coastal or lifestyle markets generally within a two-hour commuting distance of a capital city,” Mr Lawless said.
“These areas fit within the broad trend where demand has surged for lifestyle properties that offer a blend of liveability and commutability.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum, despite experiencing the greatest housing market circumstances since 2007, Queensland’s Townsville area experienced the lowest yearly growth rate for homes, growing by only eight per cent.
Across the regional unit market, 18 of the 22 areas witnessed at least a 10 per cent increase in values, with 12 regions seeing more than a 20 per cent increase. The Wide Bay region of Queensland had the highest annual growth rate of 29.2 per cent, making it the strongest performing unit market, followed closely by the Sunshine Coast region (29.1 per cent).
Mr Lawless believes that the duration of regional Australia’s growth will be primarily determined by cost, albeit as more corporations formalise hybrid working strategies, places within reasonable commuting distance of major capitals are likely to remain the most in demand.
“If housing values across regional parts of the country continue to outpace the capitals, the obvious outcome will be that regional markets lose their affordability advantage,” he said.
“We can already see this trend taking shape in some of the most popular regional coastal markets such as Byron Bay where median house values are $1.7 million and Noosa on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, where median house values are $1.2 million, much higher than comparable capital city values.”