Capital Cities Vs Regional Areas

When it comes to capital city vs regional areas, one has far eclipsed the other in terms of price growth, according to the latest analysis by RiskWise Property Research. 

The analysis by independent research house RiskWise has shown overall both houses and units in capital cities significantly outperformed dwellings in regional areas.

In fact, houses in capital cities delivered on average 52.2 per cent capital growth in the past five years, compared to those in regional areas that delivered only 23.5 per cent.

The trend is consistent across housing markets nationally.

The gap in the unit market also proved significant with capital city units delivering an average of 38.6 per cent capital growth in the past five years and regional areas only 17.4 per cent. 

This was most notable in NSW, with the exceptions of the Local Government Areas (LGA) of Forbes and Narrandera (302km and 220km from the Sydney CBD respectively) which were both listed in the top 10 LGAs for unit price growth in Australia in the past five years.

NSW regional areas 100-200km from the CBD also delivered higher capital growth than regional areas greater than 200km from the CBD, for both houses and units.

The strongest performing markets were predominantly in NSW with the Hunters Hill (120.8%) and Strathfield (114.6%) LGAs showing the highest rate of growth over the past five years for housing, while Forbes (144.3%) and Manly (99.3%) showed the strongest growth for units.

The worst performing LGAs were predominantly in Western Australia and Queensland, with the Morawa (-44.3%) and Derby-West Kimberley (-40.2%) LGAs showing the lowest rates of growth over the past five years for housing.

Isaac (-47.9%) and Gladstone (-44.3%) showed the lowest growth for units.

This is mainly due to slower economies and poor population growth.

And while the medium house price in regional areas is about 55 per cent lower than the median price in the capital city, the demand for houses has still been significantly stronger in capital city regions even in the past 12 months.

About Doron Peleg is the CEO/Founder of RiseWise Property Review. He has more than 20 years’ experience in risk management including, Co-Founder of Peleg, Kessel & Co, an assurance and advisory accounting firm & Executive Manager at Westpac Banking Corporation in Sydney. www.riskwiseproperty.com.au/