The Exodus To A More Affordable Lifestyle Has Not Occurred

It was widely expected that last year’s lockdowns, social distancing, and working from home rules would motivate many people to seek refuge in clean, green, covid free and more affordable regional areas.

The latest housing market figures from CoreLogic (for March 2021) however, show that this exodus has not occurred.

For the first time in a year, growth in capital city housing markets outpaced regional areas in all states except Victoria, where Melbourne’s housing market has still been recovering from its hard lockdown-induced issues.

The widely anticipated flight to regional areas has ended almost as soon as it was expected to begin.

This is because most of us want to continue living in big cities, which is a far cry from the mood just six months ago.

We’re getting out of here

During the height of the lockdowns many of our friends and associates assured us, “Once the borders are open again, we’re getting out of here.”

It was indeed the hope of escaping to a pandemic-free paradise that kept many of us going during those dreary, dark, and even dangerous days.

But as life gradually returns to normal, we start to visit and go out with our friends and families. We appreciate the benefits of living near our favourite entertainment, sport, recreation, and education services and facilities.

So, the urge to move far away disappears, because there’s no longer any need to escape. Just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we realise that there’s no place like home.

About John Lindeman John Lindeman has well over a decade of experience researching the nature and dynamics of various types of assets at major data analysts and is a leading property market researcher, author and commentator. For more information visit Lindeman Reports.