Prices for homes in regional Australia are growing faster than major cities.
CoreLogic’s national home value index rose 1% in December, the third month-on-month rise following a -2.1% drop between April and September.
Overall, Australian home values ended the year 3% higher but regional housing values were ahead by 6.9%.
That rate of capital gain in the regions was more than three times higher than the combined capital cities where home values were up 2% over the 12 months.
The number of residential property sales fell by about 40% through March and April but finished the year with almost 8% more sales relative to a year ago as buyer numbers surged in the second half of the year.
“Record low interest rates played a key role in supporting housing market activity, along with a spectacular rise in consumer confidence as COVID-related restrictions were lifted and forecasts for economic conditions turned out to be overly pessimistic,” says CoreLogic’s research director, Tim Lawless.
“Containing the spread of the virus has been critical to Australia’s economic and housing market resilience.”
The lift in the regions was partly due to remote working opportunities becoming more prevalent.
Lawless says demand for lifestyle properties and lower density housing options became more popular.
“Regional housing markets had generally underperformed relative to the capital city regions over the past decade, but 2020 saw regional housing values surge as demand outweighed supply,” says Lawless.
December 2020 CoreLogic numbers by state and region: