Tasmania yet again top of the regional housing pile

Tasmania has once again topped Australia’s regional housing charts as record numbers of inner-city buyers have opted for a tree change in recent months.

Research conducted by CoreLogic has revealed the best and the worst regional performers in terms of capital growth, with the effects of the pandemic springing up some interesting figures.

Tasmania’s Launceston & North East region remains the top performer in the housing category for the third quarter running after recording a yearly house price growth of 10.5%.

It is grim reading for the region of Bunbury in Western Australia which recorded the biggest dip in house prices after seeing a drop of 4.5%.

But generally, the findings paint a positive picture for Australia’s regional market, and CoreLogic’s Head of Research, Eliza Owen, said that the research backs up Australians growing desire to purchasing a property in more rural areas.

“The results of this report support increasing levels of demand outside of cities,” she said.

“Regional Australia’s dwelling markets had higher rates of growth relative to capital cities through the pandemic,” said Ms Owen.

Ms Owen said that classic pull factors such as lower density living and lower house prices have meant that regional areas allure have been magnified by the pandemic, add to that the growing reliance on working from home and it is no wonder many regional markets are flying.

“Migration numbers from the ABS show net internal migration to the regions rose to a record high in the June quarter,” she said.

“This was because movements to regional Australia increased, while departures from the regions slowed,” said Ms Owen.

Surrounding regions to the capital cities have generally tended to perform the best, and according to Ms Owen, as we head towards the new year, we can expect favourable buyer conditions to result in a flurry of activity.

‘Commutable’ regional areas within a reasonable travel distance to the major metropolitan centres have seen particularly extraordinary increases in demand. House sales volumes increased by double digits across the mid north coast, Illawarra and the Hunter Valley.

CoreLogic Head of Research – Eliza Owen

“With record-low mortgage rates and confidence returning to the Australian economy, there is likely to be a broader-based upswing across both regional and capital city markets into the first quarter of 2021,” said Ms Owen.