If you have been a resident of the Northern Rivers for a while, it will come as no surprise that a new national report confirms that the Richmond-Tweed area has topped the Australian housing market in property value growth over the last 12 months.

The new quarterly Regional Market Update report by CoreLogic shows Australia’s regional housing market has far outpaced value growth across all of Australia’s capital cities.

Regional area house values are rising twice as fast as city counterparts, sitting at 13%, compared with a 6.4% gain in capital city values.

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The report looks at capital growth over the 12 months to April 2021 in Australia’s 25 largest non-capital city markets.

The new report shows that Richmond-Tweed area topped the list, with capital gains across both house and unit markets of 21.9% and 15.5% annual growth respectively. 

Bunbury was the worst performer across both house and unit markets, with 3% and - 4.4% yearly growth respectively.

Best & Worst Performing Regional House Markets – April 2021

Best & Worst Performing Regional Unit Markets – April 2021

Housing and renters

Lismore, sitting in the Richmond-Tweed profile area has already been experiencing an affordable housing crisis for some time now.

The Northern Rivers region currently has the lowest rental vacancy rates in NSW - reported to be at 0.3% in March – while in April 2020, it was 2.7%.

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Regional living

CoreLogic’s research director, Tim Lawless, says the faster pace of growth reflects stronger demand flowing into the regional areas of Australia through the COVID-period to-date.

“This can partly be explained by the new popularity of remote and flexible working arrangements, but also increased demand for lifestyle oriented properties and holiday homes. No doubt the more affordable housing options across many of Australia’s regional markets is another incentive; in April there was a $247,400 difference between the median value of capital city dwellings and regional dwellings.

“Playing into the lifestyle trend, it’s no surprise to see the Richmond-Tweed area topping the list for capital gains over the past 12 months. This region includes high profile beachside destinations such as Byron Bay, Suffolk Park and Lennox Heads as well as popular hinterland villages such a Bangalow. The median house value across the Byron council area is now $1.4 million, which is higher than Greater Sydney’s median of $1.147 million,” says Mr Lawless.

“No doubt the more affordable housing options across many of Australia’s regional markets is another incentive; in April there was a $247,400 difference between the median value of capital city dwellings and regional dwellings.\\

Richmond-Tweed

“Playing into the lifestyle trend, it’s no surprise to see the Richmond-Tweed area topping the list for capital gains over the past 12 months. 

“This region includes high profile beachside destinations such as Byron Bay, Suffolk Park and Lennox Heads as well as popular hinterland villages such a Bangalow.

“The median house value across the Byron council area is now $1.4 million, which is higher than Greater Sydney’s median of $1.147 million.

“Looking forward, regional housing markets remain well placed to record higher than average levels of demand, especially those markets that are located close enough to capital cities to provide a commuting option, and those lifestyle markets that are popular with sea and tree changers.

“While surging values are probably good news for homeowners in these regions, for those that don’t own a home, affordability is being stretched. Particularly for long-time locals whose incomes are unlikely to be rising at anywhere near the pace of house price appreciation, they may be forced to seek out housing options further afield.”

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