Internal migration drives house prices

Propertyology, a source of well-researched property information, believes that not all kinds of population growth are equal and that some are better than others.

They argue the type of growth that most boosts real estate markets is internal migration – people moving from one part of Australia to another, as opposed to migration from overseas. Internal migrants are most likely to buy real estate when they move to another part of Australia while overseas migrants are more likely to rent.

Propertyology Head of Research Simon Pressley suggests intrastate and interstate migrants are likely to strengthen property prices in the cities they moved to, far more than the herds of overseas migrants looking to start a new life.

Pressley’s analysis of the data confirms the locations of choice for Australian residents are satellite cities, or tier-2 cities on the outer fringe of capital cities, along with major regional cities which are classed as tier-3 cities – those that act as a ‘capital city’ for larger regions.

Queensland is a big winner.

According to 2019 ABS data, Brisbane had the highest internal migration gain of all Greater Capital Cities in 2017 – 18 (16,000 people), drastically ahead of Melbourne (5,700) and Hobart (1,300). Sydney, unsurprisingly, had the greatest amount of people leave.

Most arrivals into Brisbane came from within Queensland (44,000), Sydney (11,700) and the rest of New South Wales (11,000). The Gold Coast had the highest net internal migration gain in 2017 – 18 in Australia, with a gain of 34,441. Ipswich came in at 6th with a 25,374 gain.

Article extrapolated from:

Ryder, T. (2019). ‘Internal migration drives house prices’, Hotspotting, 19 August. Available at: https://www.hotspotting.com.au/news/pop-research-pressley.html

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2019. Migration, Australia, 2017-18. Cat. no. 3412.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.