Australia’s property downturn is continuing to take its toll on expensive regional areas like Byron, Ballina and Tweed Heads, after movers flocked to the areas during COVID.
CoreLogic’s latest Regional Market Update found there had been softer values, longer days on the market and bigger vendor discounts in pricier regional areas.
Out of Australia’s 25 largest regional markets, only seven recorded a rise in house values over the year to April, down from 13 over the year to January.
CoreLogic Australia economist Kaytlin Ezzy said it was unsurprising that the biggest declines were being seen in expensive regional lifestyle markets.
“Over the past year, premium lifestyle markets have been hardest hit by softer market conditions and rate increases,” Ezzy said.
“These markets were among the largest beneficiaries of regional migration through the COVID-induced upswing and, as a result, became significantly more sensitive to the rising cost of debt and the normalisation in regional migration trends.”
Richmond-Tweed, which includes Byron, Ballina and Tweed Heads, saw its house values surge 51 per cent during the pandemic.
It has now recorded the worst performance, with values dropping 24.2 per cent over the year to April. The area has also recorded the biggest fall in annual sales activities and the highest vendor discounting rate.
Other falling areas included the Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven (down 16 per cent) and Illawarra (down 13.7 per cent).
Regional growth spots
But there were some regional areas that went against the trend. The South East region in South Australia, which includes Kangaroo Island, the Fleurieu Peninsula and the Limestone Coast, remained the best performer with house values growing 10.8 per cent.
The New England and North West region in New South Wales was the next best performer (up 4.9 per cent), followed by Bunbury in Western Australia (up 4.8 per cent).
For units, the Riverina region in NSW recorded the biggest increase (up 19.8 per cent), followed by Cairns (15.2 per cent) and Toowoomba (13 per cent).
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