Regional Australia property: The markets now leading growth revealed

Regional Australia’s growth over the past decade is best understood in three phases. Regional Australia’s growth over the past decade is best understood in three phases. The first began before the pandemic, when buyers filled the satellite cities within commuting reach of Sydney and Melbourne. From 2016 to 2019 those towns captured most of the growth while the rest of regional Australia sat still, rising three to five per cent a year. Regional Australia’s share of national home sales stayed in a narrow band between 35 and 36 per cent through most of this period, consistent with a market where growth was narrow and contained. The pandemic and flexible work opened the second phase. Buyers who could choose lifestyle over proximity moved to the coast and the country. The Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast became the poster children of this phase, but the whole of regional Australia benefited, with annual growth peaking near 28 per cent. That wave showed up just as clearly in the sales data. Regional Australia’s share of national home sales climbed to 38.9 per cent in May 2021, its highest level in over a decade. Atom Go Tian As premium lifestyle prices climbed toward capital-city levels, bu...