- 28,500 interstate migrants into Queensland in three months
- Median house price on Sunshine Coast half of Sydney
- Gympie median house price only one third of Harbour City
I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen so many number plates from other states on vehicles around our region as I have over recent months.
Well, maybe during the holiday periods, but usually those number plates belong to four-wheel drives that also happen to be towing caravans.
But now – from Chatsworth to Caloundra – every other car seems to be from Victoria or New South Wales.
And before you even think it, I’m not saying these people have illegally jumped across the border.
I’m saying that they got here long before the current lockdowns down south and have already started their new lives north of our capital city – with official data starting to back up this phenomenon, too.
Great migration north
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), about 28,500 people moved to Queensland from interstate in the three months to March.
That’s nearly 2,400 people every single week!
Sure, some people are still leaving the Sunshine State at the same time, but there is no question that the great migration north is well underway.
On top of that, record numbers of people are moving away from capital cities to regional areas.
The ABS regional internal migration estimates for the March quarter found that there was a net loss of nearly 12,000 people from capital cities around the country.
This was the largest on record since the series started in 2001, surpassing the previous record set in the September 2020 quarter (-11,200), which was mid-pandemic last year.
We don’t know exactly where all these people are moving to, but it’s a fair guess that many of them are winding up in regional parts of Queensland, including Gympie and the Sunshine Coast.
This explains all those out of state number plates on our streets.
What does it mean for local markets?
Not only are these interstate migrants putting pressure on markets by soaking up additional supply, most of these people also have money in their pockets to spend.
Just consider that the Sydney median house price is about double that of the Sunshine Coast and more than three times the median house price in Gympie, and it all becomes clear.
Many of these new residents are arriving in our region with a desire to start a new life, but also with the means to make it happen because of their superior buying power.
This is making it difficult for some local buyers to secure a property or investment, but it is a huge boon for sellers.
The influx of ‘new money’ into our region has resulted in asking prices skyrocketing over the past year.
In fact, according to SQM Research, the asking price for houses in Gympie has soared by nearly 24 per cent over the past year.
Gympie (postcode 4570)
And, on the Sunshine Coast, the asking price for houses – and units – has ramped up by an impressive 14 per cent over the same period.
We are securing record prices for listings every week for vendors, who are keen to make the most of the super-strong market conditions – as well as all of the new blood coming to town.
