Are Lifestyle Properties Back In Vogue?

Sea change and tree change property markets are returning to popularity, after suffering a downward trend following the global financial crisis (GFC), a CoreLogic RP Data analysis shows.
Migration data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that some of the regions seeing the greatest increase in migration are coastal towns and lifestyle markets.
“Sea and tree change appear to be the long-forgotten buzzwords for the migration of people to coastal and lifestyle markets,” said CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher.
“This trend was particularly strong before the financial crisis however, since the end of the financial crisis, interstate migration has slowed and most lifestyle markets have underperformed capital city housing markets due to both declining housing demand and a weaker tourism sector.
“The recently released latest Migration Statistics from the ABS suggest that migration to coastal and lifestyle markets is increasing and being led by families rather that retirees,” he said.
Of the top 25 regions for internal migrants (those not from overseas), 15 are considered to be lifestyle markets, including the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Geelong, Richmond-Tweed, Mornington Peninsula, Mid North Coast, Central Coast, Hunter Valley exc Newcastle, Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven, Bunbury, Mandurah, Sydney-Outer West and Blue Mountains, Illawarra, Wide Bay and Latrobe-Gippsland.
According to Mr Kusher: “If we look at migration in each of these regions, it is being fuelled by those aged 0-14 years and those between 25 and 64 years. Meanwhile migration of 15-24 year olds is low and often falling and migration of those over 65 years of age is not as strong as younger children and those of working age. This would seemingly indicate that migration within these coastal and lifestyle markets is being driven by young families.”
Kusher points out that the data is already nearly a year old and it’s likely the trend has progressed further over the current financial year as more Australians make the move to lifestyle markets.
If this is the case then there’s likely to be more people contemplating a similar move over the coming years.