Regions reap rewards from lack of housing affordability in capitals
Affordability pressures are seeing more home buyers look to regional areas, a new report has indicated.
Affordability pressures are seeing more home buyers look to regional areas, a new report has indicated.CoreLogic’s Regional Report has found regional areas are showing a rise in transaction levels and median values as buyers look for more affordable alternatives to capital cities. New South Wales’ Illawarra region has seen the best year-on-year performance, with house values rising 15.8% and unit values increasing 13.2%.
“The Illawarra region has been a standout performer in the past year,” CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher said. “As you would expect, this market has been driven largely by a surge in Sydney property prices as people find themselves priced out of the capital city housing market. The Illawarra region offers not just an affordable alternative for owner occupiers; it’s also attracting buyers keen to secure holiday homes.”
Richmond-Tweed was the only NSW region to see sales volumes increase over the year, rising 10.8%.
In Queensland, the Gold Coast saw the biggest increase in dwelling sales, up 7.3%. Regional Townsville saw the largest decline in sales volumes, down 8.3%.
Victoria saw dwelling sales rise 2% across Geelong and 7.4% across the Latrobe-Gippsland region.
In Western Australia, sales volumes for Bunbury were down 9.2% for houses and 24.1% for units, putting transaction levels 4.2% below the five-year average for the region.
