City exodus to boost regions post-COVID
A new report is forecasting an exodus from congested city and urban areas to regional towns thanks to the “liberation” of Aussie workers during COVID-19.
The McGrath Report 2021, titled Has COVID-19 changed real estate forever?, predicts that the next decade will be “suburbia’s time to shine”, with regional areas likely to see an influx of people from the major centres.
It found that many regional centres were becoming “economic powerhouses” in their own right, and were often outperforming the capital cities in areas such as population growth, business and jobs growth and investment in residential and commercial construction.
The report pointed to places such as Cairns and Gympie as among the best performers,
with the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Rockhampton and Townsville also likely to benefit due to their access to infrastructure including a regional airport.
“Regional relocators are likely to seek larger yet more affordable homes with more rooms to ensure a harmonious 24/7 at-home lifestyle,” the report said.
“In times gone by, city escapees typically moved to satellite towns that provided a tolerable daily commute.
“But today’s work-from homers have the freedom to go even further afield.”
John McGrath.
Real estate agents across Townsville have reported an increase in inquiries from not only interstate buyers looking to relocate to Queensland’s capital of the north, but also from businesses looking to decentralise their workforces away from the pandemic hotspots of Sydney and Melbourne.
It has also been reported that many properties in Townsville are being snapped up by interstate buyers, often sight unseen.
“COVID-19 has changed the way many people work and live,” McGrath Estate Agents founder John McGrath said. “Some of these changes will be temporary, some will be permanent.
“Moving forward, many people will cease their daily commute and jump on the cyber highway (after a morning swim at the beach) instead.
“Put simply, many people will never return to a full-time centralised work environment again.
Bernard Salt Picture: David Caird
“From a lifestyle perspective, this creates a host of benefits and new opportunities.”
Social demographer Bernard Salt has even given these relocators a name – Virus Escapees Seeking Provincial Australia, or VESPAs.
“The pandemic has no doubt unnerved many city-based cosmopolitan-living aficionados to the extent that they are now thinking differently,” Mr Salt said in a recent column in The Australian.
“Live in the regions, telecommute, start a business, come up to town as you must, once a week or, better still, once a fortnight.
“Members of the VESPA movement might well be surprised by the sophistication of regional living as well as the (low) cost.”
This article from the Townsville Bulletin originally appeared as “Exodus from cities to boost regions”https://www.realestate.com.au/news/exodus-from-cities-to-boost-regions/.
