CoreLogic Australia’s recent quarterly research for Regional Australia reveals record highs in both dwelling values and rents for the quarter ending April 2024. Dwelling values rose by 2.1% in the last three months, while rents surged by 6.3% over the past 12 months to April 2024.
WA Regional Market Performance
WA’s regional markets emerged as the star performers in terms of value growth:
- Geraldton: Leading with an impressive 8.8% increase in dwelling values.
- Busselton: Following closely with a 7.7% rise.
- Bunbury: Notable growth of 6.4%, achieving the highest 12-month growth rate of 20.7% and the fastest selling time of 14 days.
- Albany: Recorded the smallest vendor discounting at -2.8%.
Underperforming Regional Markets
In contrast, some regional markets in Victoria and NSW showed less promising results.
Ballarat and Port Macquarie experienced a decline of -2% over the past three months, and Ballarat had the most prominent negative annual change, down 4.2%. This reinforces my comments from last month, in which I indicated the Victorian residential market was soft and likely to remain soft for some time.
The NSW lifestyle markets of the Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven on the South Coast faced soft market conditions. Batemans Bay had the highest vendor discount, at -6.5%, and Bowral Mittagong had the longest median time on the market, at 75 days.
Rental Growth Across Regional Australia
Rent growth in Regional Australia has accelerated in the last quarter.
Batemans Bay: Leading the quarterly increase at 6% despite falls in 2023.
Bunbury: Following with a 4.7% rise and the most significant annual growth at 16.4%.
Sunshine Coast: Noted a 4.4% increase.
The only areas that experienced a rental decline in the quarter were Nowra – Bomaderry (NSW South Coast), down by -0.3%, Maryborough (Qld), with a slight decrease of -0.2% and St-Georges Basin – Sanctuary Point (NSW South Coast), with -0.1%, noting all these declines are minimal.