Regional migration accelerated in March quarter

The latest number of people moving from capitals to regions is some 9 per cent higher than the post-pandemic average and 26.7 per cent higher than average during the two years prior to the pandemic.

With the cost of living on the rise, the report found young people were driving the recent spike that eclipsed the previous five-year high reached in the March quarter of 2021, by 1.0 per cent.

It’s the first time the report, which analyses the quarterly and annual trends in people moving to Australia’s regions, has tracked demographics movements as well.

Commonwealth Bank regional and agribusiness banking executive general manager Paul Fowler said regional areas are providing attractive local employment opportunities.

“There are labour shortages in many parts of regional Australia and local businesses are attracting skilled and unskilled workers to increase capacity and serve growing demand for products and services,” Mr Fowler said.

“Regional Australia is thriving, fuelled by strong investment across a broad range of industries including agriculture, manufacturing, retail and hospitality.”

The high population coastal centres continued to attract the highest number of millennials, including 53 per cent to the Gold Coast, 60 per cent moved to Geelong, Newcastle opened the doors to 66 per cent, Woolongong saw a 63 per cent surge while the Sunshine Coast had slightly less at 46 per cent of movers.

But millennials accounted for the largest majority of movers to South Australian regions, with 76 per cent to Port Augusta, 70 per cent in Mount Gambier and 66 per cent to Ceduna.

RAI chief executive officer Liz Ritchie said millennials and Gen-Xers often bring business skills to grow the local community, as well as families who integrate into the local school system and community sporting activities.

“Regional living is attracting more young people and particularly younger families who are looking for bigger living spaces at a cheaper cost,” Ms Ritchie said.

At the same time, regional people have also resumed moving back to the capitals, with lockdowns from the pandemic largely a thing of the past.

In the March 2022 quarter, capital-city movers accounted for a 4.6 per cent share of total internal migration, marking a larger share than in the previous quarter, the COVID-era average and the average during the two years prior to the pandemic.

The report found this flow back to the city had “nudged” the net migration index to regions slightly lower by 3.2 per cent but remained up by 97.8 per cent on average during the two years prior to the pandemic.

Overall, the biggest outflows were from Sydney and Melbourne with people escaping to regional South Australia, Queensland and Victoria.

In particular, there was a significant jump in regional movers to Ceduna of 114 per cent, in the 12 months to March 2022, while growth in Mount Gambier and Port Augusta was also high, at 85 per cent and 74 per cent, respectively.

In other states, Moorabool in Victoria and Western Downs in Queensland experienced substantial growth rates of 56 per cent each.

The Gold Coast remains the most popular destination overall, attracting 11 per cent of people from major capitals, in the 12 months to March 2022. The next most popular destinations were the Sunshine Coast, Greater Geelong in Victoria, and Wollongong and Newcastle in NSW.

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