In August, property values across Australia soared by 18.4 per cent to a median $666,514
House prices are surging by 30 per cent a year in picturesque regional areas and desirable suburbs as Australians flee lockdowns in the big cities.
The ‘sea change and tree change’ phenomenon is now so entrenched that regional areas made up seven of the ten top property markets in August, CoreLogic data showed.
With Sydney and Melbourne in lockdown, property buyers increasingly want to live in a nicer suburb by the coast or in a regional area near one of Australia’s biggest cities.
CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman said real estate buyers were particularly interested in houses with proximity to either beaches or farms.
During the pandemic there has certainly been strong homebuyer demand for detached houses in lifestyle regions, he told Daily Mail Australia. Population moves have been significant from capital cities to the regions, especially from Sydney and Melbourne amid lockdowns and work-from-home arrangements.
While desirable areas by the beach in Sydney have some of Australia’s strongest annual price growth, seaside areas in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland are becoming even more out of reach for the young.
In August, property values across Australia soared by 18.4 per cent to a median $666,514 – the fastest annual growth since July 1989.
But on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, home values during the past year have jumped by 33.8 per cent to $2.2million.
On the other side of Brisbane, Gold Coast property values have jumped by 24.9 per cent to $709,992.
Victoria wasn’t left out either with prices on the Mornington Peninsula, south-east of Melbourne, surging by 28.3 per cent to $854,275.
Tasmania also had two spots in the top ten for annual growth with the state’s south-east seeing prices surge by 26.5 per cent to $523,699.
Launceston and Tasmania’s north-east had a 26.3 per cent increase taking median prices to $448,715.
Mr Felsman said Tasmania’s status as a largely Covid-free area had made the island state a desirable place to move to. Covid-free regions in Tasmania have performed strongly.
Despite an exodus from Sydney to the regions, house prices in Australia’s biggest city have still surged as more people relocated within the city to a bigger home, with median values climbing by 26 per cent during the past year.
Unlike the lockdowns of 2020, property prices are continuing to surge in 2021 as lockdowns either see more people move to the regions or see home sellers in Sydney and Melbourne delay putting their house on the market.
CoreLogic’s head of research in Australia Eliza Owen said that amid the lockdowns, property prices were surging in suburbs where a higher proportion of residents could work from home.
