If you thought property rental and purchase in the region was already scarce and expensive, a new advertising campaign could make it an even bigger challenge. 

Called Move to More, the national awareness campaign will urge capital city dwellers to move to regional areas. It’s due to hit city TV, radio, digital advertising and billboards on major arterial roads later in May.

Developed by the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) and supported by the Federal Government, the campaign is heralded as a way to encourage “new energy, new people, new businesses and new investment to regional Australia”.

It challenges the people of regional Australia to not see themselves as the "victims" of change, but instead help improve the quality of life for all Australians.

RAI chief executive Liz Ritchie said the campaign was developed to solve the challenges facing Australia after the pandemic – and based on consultation with regional decision makers across the country. 

Are we ready?

The Lismore App asked the question 'are we ready?' to a range of local stakeholders - from real estate agents, to social housing providers and regional development chiefs - and found the campaign has sparked a division of opinions about how we support and sustain growth in our area.

Rental vacancy rates

The Northern Rivers region currently has the lowest rental vacancy rates in NSW.

According to a survey by Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW), the month of March showed that residential vacancy rates across much of regional NSW dropped, while Sydney’s residential rental vacancy rate rose.

In the Northern Rivers region, rental vacancy rates in March were reported to be at 0.3% – while in April 2020, it was 2.7%.

So, are we ready for an influx of more people to the area?

Social housing

North Coast Community Housing chief executive John McKenna says “no”.

“We’ve already seen an influx of people moving to the area because of Covid, even before this campaign gets off and running - and we already have tightest rental market in the State,” Mr McKenna said. 

Rental prices increasing

“It will even further tighten the rental and purchasing market. Rental prices have increased across the region by greater than 30% - and purchase prices have gone up even more. 

“Byron is the highest, with rental prices up by 66%.

“For the social housing properties in our current leasehold program, we are facing an increase in rents from $50 to $150 a week."

No clause evictions

“With all the people coming from the cities, many locals can’t get a rental because new people are putting 12 months rent on the table up front," Mr McKenna said. 

“It’s pushing up rents and current tenant are being served with no cause evictions – it’s something we need to change in government." 

Real estate development

Lismore real estate agent Andrew Gordon said although the idea of decentralising metropolitan areas is a “wonderful’ idea, he questions where people will live.

“We manage over 600 homes and I would say the vacancy rate on the ground is far worse than 0.3% in Lismore,” he said.

“Lismore has more pressure on it than other surrounding areas - I would wage it’s zero.

“We have a waiting list for properties and recently, 148 people turned up to an inspection of a two bedroom unit in flood zone.”

Housing crisis dilemma

“Who doesn’t want to raise their kids in a country environment,” he said. “The dilemma is where will you put them.

“We have a housing crisis.

“How can we offer anyone an opportunity here when local government hamstrings development and seems to have a moratorium on growth. Until we change that, nothing is going to happen.

“We need growth here. We have a declining rate of growth here and all I see is Kevin Hogan handing out Federal funding everywhere except here.”

Wholistic view

Regional Development Australia (RDA) Northern Rivers director Tim Williamson took a wholistic view and said the Northern Rivers region has different needs.

“Some areas need population growth and some might not,” he said.

“Towns like Kyogle could need people with younger families to keep the vibrancy of the local community going,” he said. “They can feed into areas where there are labour shortages.

“But we need to take a wholistic view and make sure the infrastructure is in place to accept the growth is required.

“These people will need services.”

"Change victims"

The RAI website states that its work focus is to “target the issues that matter to both policy makers and our regions and outline options for change”.

It further states that “Regional Australia can increase its contribution to national innovation and growth and provide improved quality of life for its 8.8 million residents. 

“But we must stop seeing our regions as victims of change and we must stop misunderstanding this part of our economy", the website states.

“Regional success is built on a balance of local ingenuity and proactivity, and informed, consultative state and federal leadership. 

"We need to lift expectations; about what our economy can do what government can do and what regional people can and are already doing. It’s time for a period of change on our own terms".

“Renaissance”

RAI chief executive Liz Ritchie said “regional Australia is on the cusp of an incredible renaissance”. 

“In 2019, our report Regional Population Growth – Are we ready? recognised the need for an intervention in our existing population trajectory, and in turn, an opportunity to create a more balanced population settlement for the good of our nation," she said.

“But while a lot of Australians living in our capital cities feel a positive connection to regional Australia, there is a big difference between liking the place and packing up and moving there.

“So, we set out to understand the attitudes and behaviours of those living in our capital cities when it to contemplating a move to regional Australia.

Research

“We started off by undertaking extensive qualitative and quantitative research and found that one out of every five people living in our capital cities is considering a move to regional Australia.”

Ms Ritchie said the research also identified that while the ‘push’ factors motivating people to leave the cities are strong, the ‘pull’ factors – essentially the appeal of regional Australia — are the more powerful motivators.

“These insights led to the development of our brand platform – Move to More. It positions regional Australia as offering new residents more space, more career opportunities, improved quality of life and more bang for their buck when it comes to real estate.

“The Move to More campaign features extensive advertising across the country that creates a new brand for regional Australia – a brand that is offering Australians a chance to shape their best life.

Ms Ritchie said a website would be released at the same time as the advertising campaign and would allow people to “unearth and discover Regional Australia in a way that suits their life stage, interests and career aspirations”. 

“It invites users to take a short quiz and then filters functional aspects (housing, employment, transport, schools, health and entertainment) to arrive at a selection of towns that meets their desires,” she said.

Skills and jobs

With the new Federal budget about to be released after a year of pandemic recovery, Ms Ritchie said the significance of skills and job vacancies “continue to be front and centre across rural and regional Australia”.

“Our most recent Regional Job Vacancy report revealed a record 66,200 jobs were advertised in March,” she said.

“This new record again confirms what regional leaders and employers have been telling us – regions need more people."