Professionals Burleigh 
The pandemic hit two years ago and altered the property market, with lifestyle property becoming the most sought-after type of real estate. Since restrictions have begun to ease across Australia, data suggests this is changing as people leave and return to work in offices in major cities.
At the start of the pandemic cities were forced to lockdown and businesses were told to send employees home to work. Many decided that the future of work had permanently changed and moved from the big cities to regional parts of the country.
Additionally, a lot of households were unable to spend money on travel and social activities so people were willing to spend their income on housing.
Though many Australians wish to live in regional properties, the desire for some has withered as cities reopen and people remember why they chose to live in urban areas in the first place.
We’re also seeing the rental market slowly easing with more supply and less demand. This is likely due to some renters fully committing to the region and buying, or those who rented through the pandemic returning back to the cities they moved away from during COVID.
Below is data sourced from PropTrack which shows how trends changed over the last two years in some of the most in-demand lifestyle areas in Australia.
Whilst these 10 regions recorded price growth over the last 12 months and prices still show to be rising, there has certainly been a decline of the growth in last few months.
While the total number of properties for sale and trends are varied, in most cases late last year and early this year, total listing volumes have raised.
Properties are still selling rapidly within these markets, with charts highlighting most have recorded a decline in the days on site over the year.
Demand for property is below it’s peak across each of the 10 regions analysed.
In most cases, demand per listing peaked during January 2022 and fell in February 2022, however it’s fallen to levels below the previous highs seen in late 2021.
In most of the regions examined, rental growth has been strong over the past year. While growth has been strong, the only regions to record an increase in rent over the last few months are Coffs Harbour-Grafton (2.1%), Newcastle and Lake Macquarie (2%), Sunshine Coast (1.8%) and Gold Coast (3.6%).
A huge challenge for people moving to regional areas has been locating rental accommodation, with vacancy rates historically low.
Rental properties continue to get leased out quickly across regional areas, but only Gold Coast, Illawarra, and Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven had historically low days on site in February 2022.
Rental demand seems to have peaked across the regions, with demand per listing below previous highs recognized in all 10 regions.
What happens now?
Data shows that regional housing markets are still recording large increases in property prices and rentals, with properties selling and leasing quickly while demand remains strong.
Prices have soared rapidly and the affordability of many of these areas that made them so attractive during the early days of the pandemic, have diminished.
With major cities reopening and returning to normal, the outflow of residents from metropolitan areas to regions is predicted to slow. It’s likely we’ll also see a lot of people who made the shift during the pandemic returning to cities as they realise their lifestyle in regional markets is very different to that of cities.
It’s still predicted that regional areas will see strong demand and more rapid price growth than capital cities over the coming year, however the surge in new residents is likely to slow.
The data indicates these markets are generally not as hot as they have been in the past.
Read more on realestate.com.au
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