HOUSE prices are down in most regional markets with real estate analysts pointing to interest rates and migration after the COVID-19 pandemic as factors.<\/p>\n
Regional housing markets are down year-on-year due to high interest rates and shifting migration patterns.<\/p>\n
CoreLogic’s latest regional market update, released last week, examined Australia’s largest non-capital city regions, finding housing values declined in 18 of the 25 areas.<\/p>\n
The biggest drops were in the NSW regions of Richmond-Tweed at 20.4 per cent and Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven at 15 per cent.<\/p>\n
Victoria’s Ballarat and Geelong also saw double-digit declines, with house prices falling 11.2 per cent and 10.4 per cent respectively in the year to July.<\/p>\n
“Year-on-year growth was hard to find across regional Australia in the past 12 months,” CoreLogic’s research head Eliza Owen said.<\/p>\n
“The markets that saw an increase were largely more affordable and were more rural.”<\/p>\n
Central Queensland houses saw the largest house value rise, increasing 2.7 per cent, while the neighbouring Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday region also saw a 1.2 per cent increase.<\/p>\n
Interest rate rises and post-COVID migration programs were contributing to the difference in prices across the regions, Ms Owen said.<\/p>\n
“Targeted migration programs tend to focus on parts of regional Australia as a pathway to permanent residence,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Some of the more rural, regional parts of the country may have seen sustained housing demand as international travel restrictions have lifted through 2022.”<\/p>\n
Overall regional house values are 5.6 per cent lower than the same time last year, while sales volumes are also down 21.3 per cent.<\/p>\n
Higher-value markets have likely seen a poorer performance in the past year, Ms Owens said.<\/p>\n
“But the good news for sellers is that these markets appear to have passed through the depths of the downswing,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Popular high-end markets could start to stabilise as mortgage rates move closer to a peak and capital city markets become more expensive.”<\/p>\n