PRICES
The last decade was very strong in terms of price growth for houses in regional Australia. From $336,203 in 2013/14, prices grew by 91.6 per cent to peak at $644,286 this last fiscal year. Growth can largely be attributed to the fact that every fiscal year outside of 2018/19 saw prices increase. In particular, the growth that happened between 2020/21 and 2021/22 stands out with regional prices increasing by 22.2 per cent then 17.3 per cent, respectively.
Considering the six states individually, regional Tasmania emerges as the state with the highest growth. Prices grew 124.2 per cent from $241,039 to $540,520.
That said, the story sits with regional New South Wales and regional Queensland. Ten years ago, Queensland was the most expensive regional area, with houses priced at $378,504, while New South Wales sat second with houses priced at $354,188. Since then, regional New South Wales has exploded with a 110.5 per cent growth in house prices over the past decade, making it the most expensive of all six regional areas and recording a geometric mean house price of $745,602. On the other hand, regional Queensland has only grown by 79.8 per cent to peak at $680,646.
Regional South Australia has the lowest price of all six states at $428,062 and the second slowest price growth over the last decade at 77.4 per cent. Regional Victoria sits in the middle of the pack with a geometric mean house price growing 104.2 per cent over the past decade to end 2023/24 at $587,191.
It’s interesting to observe that states showing the smallest 10-year growth are the same states showing the largest one-year growth. Regional Western Australia had the lowest 10-year price growth at 38.1 per cent, just one quarter of the growth of leader regional Tasmania, but boasts the highest one-year price growth at 16.5 per cent.
REGIONAL PRICE GROWTH OVER THE LAST DECADE
Geometric mean house price for fiscal year ending 2024 vs 2023, 2019 and 2014
REGIONAL AUSTRALIA
FY 23/24
1 YEAR GROWTH
5 YEAR GROWTH
10 YEAR GROWTH
REGIONAL AUSTRALIA
FY23/24
1 YEAR GROWTH
5 YEAR GROWTH
10 YEAR GROWTH
SALES
Whereas price saw a consistently positive trend over the last decade, sales in regional Australia were more sporadic. Regional Australia started the last decade by recording 115,394 transactions in 2013/14. This increased gradually for five years until 2017/18, where sales reached a local peak of 139,189 transactions, before dropping back down to where it started.
Just like with prices, sales spiked in 2020/21 and 2021/22, but unlike with prices, sales dropped significantly afterward. Ultimately, regional sales ended the last fiscal year with 136,268 transactions, just 8.2 per cent higher than 10 years ago.
Granted, some states fared better than others. Regional Queensland had both the highest number of sales transactions at 47,878 for the fiscal year ending 2024 and the highest growth over the last decade at 27.4 per cent. In contrast, regional Tasmania recorded both the lowest sales transactions and lowest 10-year growth with sales dropping 36.5 per cent over the last decade to 3,064 in the fiscal year ending 2024.
Regional Western Australia came in second in terms of sales growth at 25.8 per cent to end the last decade with 9,193 sales transactions. Regional New South Wales transactions stayed relatively flat at 2.4 per cent, although the region dropped from first to second in terms of sales among the six states.
The final thing that stands out is how regional sales are dominated by three states. Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria make up 86 per cent of all regional house sales. Even after decreasing by 8.9 per cent over the last decade, regional Victoria alone accounts for more sales than regional Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania combined.
REGIONAL SALES GROWTH OVER THE LAST DECADE
Count of transactions for fiscal year ending 2024 vs 2023, 2019 and 2014
REGIONAL AUSTRALIA
FY 23/24
1 YEAR GROWTH
5 YEAR GROWTH
10 YEAR GROWTH
REGIONAL AUSTRALIA
FY 23/24
1 YEAR GROWTH
5 YEAR GROWTH
10 YEAR GROWTH
TOP SUBURBS
Regional Queensland dominated the top suburbs and this may seem surprising since the region is ranked fourth out of six states in terms of price. In fact, the region’s 10-year price growth of 79.8 per cent was lower than the national 10-year price growth of 88.0 per cent.
This is because with the inclusion of high value suburbs (from the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, for example), regional Queensland has the largest price disparity between suburbs. In other words, if we made a list of the lowest priced suburbs, then regional Queensland would dominate that list as well.
With this in mind, seven of the top 10 suburbs came from regional Queensland, while the remaining three suburbs in the list came from regional New South Wales. Surfers Paradise - North is the most expensive regional suburb with a geometric mean house price of $2.6 million as of the fiscal year ending 2024. Mermaid Beach - Broadbeach came second at $2.5 million and Surfers Paradise - South came third at $2.2 million. All suburbs can be found in the Gold Coast.
Regional Queensland likewise dominated the list of suburbs with the highest price growth over the last year. Regional Western Australia contributed the remaining four suburbs.
Queensland’s Mount Morgan showed the highest price growth at 24.9 per cent, Park Avenue came second at 24.5 per cent, while Berserker was third at 24.4 per cent.
Norman Gardens in regional Queensland was the highest priced suburb in this top 10 price growth list with geometric mean house price of $604,019.
