Country and coastal towns feel the pressure as city exodus continues
The Regional Australia Institute says the nation is unprepared for this shift with housing supply a key issue
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More Australians are choosing a life in the regions as local employment opportunities grow and the work-from-home era enables young families to leave expensive metropolitan housing markets for a new lifestyle on the coast or in the country where homes are more affordable.
The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) estimates 3.5 million Australians would like to set up a new life in the regions but we are unprepared for this population shift. The RAI says many regional towns are already struggling to meet the needs of their growing populations, especially in terms of housing supply and essential services like childcare and education.
“A significant societal transformation is underway in Australia,” said RAI CEO Liz Ritchie. “More people are choosing a life in the regions, and metropolitan to regional relocations remain almost 12 percent above the pre-COVID average. With all those additional people calling regional Australia home, we must now ensure that they are able to access the services they need to lead safe, productive, fulfilling lives and contribute to the nation’s success.”
The Federal Government’s newly released State of Australia’s Regions 2024 report reveals key insights as to how the country’s regional areas are changing. It notes significant population increases since the pandemic, especially around coastal cities, and strong economic growth. This is creating more jobs — so much so that regional areas are finding it difficult to fill vacancies.
Job advertisements in regional Australia more than doubled over the four years to October 2023 amid the best three years of agricultural, fisheries and forestry production on record. The tourism industry has also expanded, with more than 100,000 tourism-related businesses now operational across the regions. This is providing a direct economic boost to other local businesses as more visitors flood in. The report also notes that Australia’s net-zero ambitions will require 213,000 new clean energy jobs by 2033, and more of them will be in the regions than the cities.
Ms Ritchie said regional housing supply constraints are already “putting a handbrake on our nation’s growth and prosperity”. Regional areas have as much of a supply issue as the cities, with home values soaring at a greater rate than the capitals, and rental vacancies just as low at an average of 0.8 percent, according to the latest data from Domain. The RAI says that between March 2020 and December 2023, the median value of regional dwellings grew by 54.2 percent from $392,802 to $605,780. By comparison, capital city dwelling values increased by 29.3 percent from $643,540 to $832,193.
“While it is still more affordable to buy in the regions, for now, there is no third option if locals or metro-movers are priced out of the market, and supply fails to meet demand,” Ms Ritchie said.
Last Friday, RAI co-hosted a National Regional Housing Summit in Canberra attended by 300 industry insiders and government figures including the Federal Minister for Housing. The RAI said one of the issues highlighted was the need for housing diversity, especially medium-density developments. RAI analysis reveals that apartments make up just 2-3 percent of the total housing stock in some regional markets compared to more than 42 percent in metropolitan areas.
“Our regional communities are crying out for one- and two-bedroom properties. Workers need easily accessible and affordable accommodation, older people want to leave their large properties for easier-to-maintain apartments, and a lot more people could get into the property market if there were more entry-level options on the market,” Ms Ritchie said.
“In the NSW city of Dubbo, construction is underway on a 15-storey apartment block. This isn’t the sort of development you’d normally expect in an inland community, but it shows that demand for this type of housing is certainly there,” she said.
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A vibrant 1954 Palm Springs home featuring eight colorful murals by late artist Shawn Savage is on the market for $2.295 million. The 2,237-square-foot property features bold hot-pink doors, three bedrooms, a pool, mountain views and playful interiors blending modern glamour with classic Palm Springs style.
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A bold 1950s home in Palm Springs, California, adorned with eight colorful murals by the late artist Shawn Savage, is coming to market ahead of the city’s annual Modernism Week.
The white stucco home on El Camino Way, built in 1954 and recently renovated, has an asking price of $2.295 million. Its staggered facade features three playfully abstract murals on either side of double-height hot pink doors.
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The sellers are Los Angeles-based partners John Freeman and Mathieu Faure, who knew it was “the one” when they saw it after several months of searching in the winter of 2023. “It’s a happy house,” Freeman said. “We really liked the feel of the house: the uniqueness, the openness, the brightness—and the art.”
Located in the Mesa neighborhood of Palm Springs, which backs up to the San Jacinto Mountains, the 2,237-square-foot house features three bedrooms, an angled bonus room and a yard with a pool, desert mountain views and another colorful mural running alongside the pool.
“I never thought in my life I would have a house with pink doors,” said Faure, a producer at Apple TV who is originally from Paris. “It’s so colorful, it’s so different. And so Palm Springs.”
The layout of the home creates a smooth flow from the front doors through the open-plan common area—a foyer, bar, and living and dining room—into the kitchen around a fireplace wall and out to the yard. A corridor leads to a private bedroom wing, where the primary suite has floor-to-ceiling windows and the primary bath is only a tad smaller than the bedroom.
Faure has filled the home with Jonathan Adler furniture, rugs and accessories, riffing on the energetic California vibes of the house to create an aesthetic of “modern American glamour,” he said.
“It was enjoyable for me to play with different types of furniture and make this house ‘happy chic,’ as I describe it,” he said.
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“He did a fantastic job,” said Freeman, who is an attorney and consultant. “It does kind of bring a smile to my face whenever I walk into the house.”
Since the furniture and decor were chosen for the particularities of the space, the couple is open to selling them with the home. Their West Hollywood house is already furnished; the collection doesn’t match the vibes of a Houston loft they bought near family; and Faure can’t imagine these pieces in New York—where he’s lived in the past—he said.
The duo bought the Palm Springs house for $1.925 million in 2024, according to property records, and will list the home Monday. They are represented by Stewart Smith, Patrick Jordan and Kevin Stanley of Bennion Deville Homes/Luxury Portfolio International.
The previous owners had purchased the home in 2021 for $975,000 and then spent more than two years and $700,000 on the renovation, according to Realtor.com. They commissioned Savage, a local Palm Springs artist and painter known for his joyful abstract work, to decorate the home.
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Savage, who died in 2024, lived in the Coachella Valley from 2003, and his work can be found in various local institutions and is on exhibit at the Illumine Gallery in Palm Springs. “Some artists pass through a place. Shawn Savage became a part of it,” the gallery’s description states.
Unsurprisingly, the murals invite lots of friendly conversations, as well as guided tours and interested lookers, but never to a degree that it disturbed the peacefulness of their home or the neighborhood, the sellers said. “It felt like living in an art gallery, and you have the exterior that you would share with the world,” Faure explained.
The neighborhood also played a role in their decision to buy, because of its access to the hiking trails of the San Jacinto Mountains, the lack of through-roads and the neighborly environment.
“It’s a very friendly place,” Faure said.
As housing drives wealth and policy debate, the real risk is an economy hooked on growth without productivity to sustain it.
Wealthy Aussies are swapping large family homes for high-end apartments, with sales of prestige units tripling over the past decade.
