It’s finally nice to see that regional areas in Australia are starting to get some positive attention in relation to property commentary. While especially east coast commentators focus all on the big cities like Melbourne and Sydney all the time as that’s where the majority of people live. What is now starting to happen is more attention is being put into regional areas and in particular, major regional towns that have a nice lifestyle, temperate climate, good education opportunities, solid medical facilities and potential job opportunities. Since COVID, people are re-accessing where they want to live, where is the safest place to be, that they can work remotely and that family is their number 1 priority.
Data shows that people are moving out of major cities and into regional areas. (Australian Bureau of Statistics shows on average out of all major cities in the last ¼ there was 10,500 people decline). The knock on effect of this is, that residential sales have certainly increased to buyers from outside local regions with a lot from metro areas, rentals are in strong demand across the state with many regional centres in WA experiencing rent vacancies of under 1% and that some people moving are starting up businesses or buying established businesses, so we are seeing improvement in the commercial sector which was struggling well before COVID.
This is why Albany is currently experiencing a large demand from buyers outside of the region to move here due to the above. The majority of people moving will need work. I watch seek.com.au regularly and have noticed for the best part of the last 8 months there has been between 80 – 120 jobs advertised in the Great Southern per week. These jobs are in all different industries so don’t think for one minute that it’s just retail or hospitality entry level jobs. So work isn’t an issue. Yes we do have an employment problem and that’s a lack of people wanting to work. This is backed up by a client that I spoke to this week that requires another 40 workers and they already employ approx. 460 people. And that’s just one example. But that’s another blog for another day.
So with plenty of work, people moving here for the lifestyle, being able to experience outdoors whether that be a hike, walk, ride or the relaxation of visiting a winery, tourist attraction, café etc. it’s just some of the reasons why regional is now back on the radar. And I’m sure the other 60,000 people plus that call Great Southern home will agree! Regional really is the best and it is now finally getting the recognition it deserves. Yes I’m a bit biased because I’ve lived here for a long time but why not come and see for yourself and you’ll get to see what I’m talking about.
By Jeremy Stewart
