Where Aussies moved to during the pandemic property boom
Australia’s migration magnets have been revealed, with some surprising winners and losers of the pandemic-led population shift.
Analysis of population data and real estate transactions by Propertyology shows that 48,202 people relocated away from capital cities to regional Australia in the 12 months to June 2021.
And many of them made the move to Queensland, with the population of the Sunshine Coast increasing by 9 per cent.
Other big winners were Hervey Bay ( 6.5%), Gympie and the Gold Coast ( 5.2%), Scenic Rim ( 5.1%) and Yeppoon ( 3.1%).
“The biggest capital city beneficiaries of internal migration are mere minnows in comparison,” Propertyology founder Simon Pressley said.
“Greater Brisbane and Greater Hobart had the highest population growth from internal migration, adding 2.8 per cent and 1 per cent over the last five years.
“Their respective property markets produced capital growth rates of 29 per cent and 80 per cent over the five year period.”
But Mr Pressley said the “former craze to move to a big, congested and expensive city is long gone”, with 30,424 people saying “goodbye” to Sydney and 34,367 saying “ta-ta” to Melbourne last year.
Southern states saw similar shifts to lifestyle regions, with populations in Sydney and Melbourne declining by 2.5 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively.
And while many made the move to the Sunshine State, they also flocked to Victoria’s Surf Coast ( 12.5%) and NSW’s Port Macquarie region ( 8.5%).
Elsewhere, the population of Darwin declined by 7.6 per cent, while in Adelaide it fell by 1.4 per cent, with places like Victor Harbour swelling by 9.2 per cent.
Hobart also attracted new residents, rising by 1 per cent, while Perth’s population grew 0.7 per cent, but was up 8.1 per cent at Margaret River.
Mr Pressley said the population decline in Greater Melbourne and Greater Sydney was “unprecedent”.
He said Brisbane was an interesting case study, adding that the idea that “everyone has moved to BrisVegas” was “grossly misguided”.
“Greater Brisbane’s total population growth over the 12 months ending June 2021 was only 70 per cent of historical volumes,” Mr Pressley said.
“Brisbane City Council actually produced its first ever net population decline (538 people).”
The report said that the popularity of the work-from-home lifestyle would continue to attract new residents to lifestyle regions. Source:
realestate.com.au
