Home buyers are starting to look beyond the beach, with inland areas experiencing a boom in prices as buyers start moving away from traditional coastal hotspots, according to a leading economist.
Ray White Group Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee said that while coastal regions have long dominated the property market, a quiet revolution is taking place in the country’s interior.
She said that a host of inland locations, particularly in NSW, Queensland and Victoria have become some of the most highly sought-after locations in the country.
“Over the past decade, the Gold Coast has been the strongest regional growth area in Australia, with all top performing areas being located in either the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast,” Ms Conisbee said.
“However, there are many inland areas that have more than doubled in price, and the majority of them are in regional inland New South Wales and Victoria.”
Ms Conisbee said the Southern Highlands in regional New South Wales has been the strongest inland regional area over the past 10 years.
“Bowral tops the list with an increase of $1 million over the past decade,” she said.
“The Victorian spa country also features with Woodend and Daylesford seeing increases in excess of $460,000.”
While these areas have shown strong long-term growth, Ms Conisbee said there has been a recent shift in the market.
“Toowoomba and surrounding areas account for nine of the top 10 growth areas over the past year,” she said.
“Middle Ridge in Toowoomba has seen price growth of just over $100,000 over the past year and is now getting close to a million dollar median.”
The only non-Toowoomba suburb in the top 10 for the past year is Tanunda in South Australia’s Barossa, with a median increase of just under $75,000.
Ms Conisbee said there were several factors driving this inland boom.
“Overwhelmingly, the top inland performers are relatively close to capital cities,” she said.
“This makes it possible to commute to a larger city for work if required.
“Most of them have a large number of older historic homes and are attractive leafy suburbs with a high level of amenity, similar characteristics to many capital city suburbs that have seen very strong growth over a prolonged period.”
