Millennials are leaving capital cities for cheaper regional living, continuing a pandemic trend
source : www.abc.net.au
More and more millennials are moving out of the city and into the regions, with some opting for smaller and more remote destinations, continuing a post-pandemic urban flight trend that shows no sign of going away as the cost of living continues to rise.
The quarter Regional Movers Index Report analyzed movement data among Commonwealth Bank customers to calculate the net internal migration of Australia’s local government areas (LGAs).
Here is an overview of the patterns that emerged.
What is net internal migration?
Internal migration is Australians moving from one Australian territory to another, without taking into account overseas migrants or population changes due to birth or death.
If we calculate how many new people move into an LGA minus those who leave the LGA, we get the net amount of migration.
The Regional Movers Index report mainly compared data collected in the 12 months to September 2023 with data from the previous year, and also compared patterns from before, during and after the pandemic.
It thought so Capital migration to the region accounted for 11 percent of all moves – the same figure as last year – while 9.1 percent of the moves consisted of people going the other way – that figure falls for the second quarter in a row.
12.6 percent of moves consisted of people moving between regions, while the rest consisted of people hopping from capital to capital.
The number of people traveling in the three months to September was the third highest level since March 2018.
Which regions are people moving to?
The sunny coast of Queensland topped the list of Australia’s favorite regional destinations, with 16.7 percent of movers choosing it in the 12 months to September 2023.
- 1.Sunshine Coast, Queensland: 16.7%
- 2.Greater Geelong, Vic: 8.3%
- 3.Gold Coast, Qld: 8.3%
- 4.Fraser Coast, Queensland: 6.5%
- 5.Moorabool, Vic: 5.8%
Five modest LGAs were also identified as ‘regional hotspots’ in the report, due to an increase in their net migration rates compared to the previous year.
Waroona in Western Australia saw an “almost fourfold increase” in net migration and topped the list at 279 per cent, while Greater Geraldton in the same state saw net migration grow by 205 per cent.
- 1.Waroona, WA: 279.3%
- 2.Greater Geraldton, WA: 205.3%
- 3.Snowy Valleys, NSW: 127%
- 4.Golden Plains, Vic: 103.7%
- 5.Douglas, Queensland: 100%
Kim Houghton, chief economist at the Regional Australia Institute, who helped write the report, said the list of regional hotspots was more unexpected than the list of favorite destinations because the hotspots tended to be smaller places that had experienced significant growth.
Of those who move from capitals to the regions, regional NSW was the most popular destination, attracting 39 percent of domestic migrants (dethroning Queensland, which ranked second this year).
Lake Macquarie And Wow Wow in NSW were among the top choices for former city residents, while Maitland in NSW and Bundaberg And Toowoomba in Queensland reached the top five destinations for those moving from region to region.
Where does everyone come from?
As for the top five destinations, the report noted that “those making the move are more likely to come from the cities in closest proximity.”
Brisbane fed the most people in regional LGAs in Queensland, while those in Melbourne Melton And Wyndham were the largest contributors to neighboring countries Morabool And Greater Geelong.
The Gold Coast was the only LGA in the top five to gain popularity in the three months to September.
Mr Houghton said the area was behaving almost like a “gathering place”, with “people staying for a while and some moving on to a region”.
He added that looking at the report overall, some Australians found life in the capital cities unsatisfactory and were choosing to move to regions just outside their cities.
While that pattern seemed to hold true for Waroona and Golden Plains, other increasingly popular LGAs were a little different.
“Those arriving further afield, such as the Snowy Valleys and Douglas, were largely from other states,” the report said.
Mr Houghton said most of their income came from Canberra, Sydney And Melbournewhich was “a very long distance move from an urban environment to a fairly isolated and remote environment”.
He added that this was fascinating because those regional destinations did not fit the ‘standard playbook’ when it came to what a place needs to grow, for example having major centres, airports or high-quality transport links.
Sydney once again saw the vast majority of internal migrants leave Perth And Brisbane some people won.
Who will make the move?
Young urban residents seeking cheap housing and well-paying jobs formed the largest category of migrants to regional LGAs, often traveling longer distances than other demographic groups.
“By age group, millennials It turned out that they were the ones most likely to make the switch,” the report said.
“(The report) really paints the picture of younger individuals or younger families looking for an affordable place,” Mr Houghton said.
But he added that the situation was slightly different when it came to the Snowy Valleys LGA, where people with more money were more likely to move.
Why are they moving?
While the report does not analyze the reasons behind people’s movement, Mr Houghton said the destinations themselves provided contextual clues.
“A lot of the small places seeing growth, and the big places seeing less growth – it seems to be related house price And availability of home,” he said.
He pointed to people moving from Adelaide to Ceduna because it has one of the lowest average house prices in regional South Australia, and people leaving the Gold Coast for regional Queensland.
“There’s no causality there, but I think there are a lot of associations with these places and housing prices,” he said.
He added that it was no coincidence that movement from the regions to the capitals had slowed over the past two quarters, while house prices, especially in Melbourne and Sydney, had risen much faster than the regional market.
What started as a COVID-induced move into the regions doesn’t appear to be going away either: city-to-region moves are currently 11.7 percent above the pre-COVID average.
Mr Houghton said what was seen at the time as a passing phase now “looks like it is going to be a long-term structural change”.
source : www.abc.net.au
