Suburban shift: we’re moving out.

OUTER suburbs that ring Australian capital cities are home to the country’s record population growth.  

Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show a record 517,200 added to the rolls of the nation’s state capitals.

The biggest increases over the course of the 2022-23 financial year were in Melbourne and Sydney – up by 167,500 and 146,700 respectively over the course. With Perth and Brisbane absorbing another 188,000 people, these five cities had their largest annual population growth since records began in 1971.

Pointedly, the ABS notes the largest growth areas “were mainly in outer-suburban parts of the capital cities, where population growth was driven by net internal migration gains.”

It is a pattern that is familiar to Bronwen Clark, CEO of the National Growth Areas Alliance, which represents dozens of councils in areas that circle metropolitan Australia.

“People are moving there in droves, it hasn’t slowed down at all,” said Ms Clark. 

“Our members all have population growth rates generally above 3% per annum and the national average is 1.2% per annum. Some of them are up to 8 or 9% per annum.”

Top of the growth list is the Rockbank – Mount Cottrell suburb to the west of Melbourne which grew by 4,300 people. 

There is a similar picture in western Sydney with the Marsden Park – Shanes Park in Blacktown growing by 3,900 people. Boronia Heights – Park Ridge in Logan saw an influx of 2,000 people to the Queensland hotspot.

Perth had the highest growth rate, climbing 3.6 per cent – with property prices following an even steeper trajectory.  

The overall price increase of houses and units, according to CoreLogic, has jumped by 56 per cent since the onset of COVID, costing $252,000 more than it did just four years ago.

But what’s driving these increases?

What does it mean for the industry over the next five years? 

How are these suburbs handling the pressure on infrastructure?  And how is 

Clearly housing is front and centre of the political agenda with elections around the corner. And the grand plans outlined in the Federal Budget deserve more than a little scrutiny – especially as those aims to build 1.2 million “new, well-located homes” by 2029 would be the “equivalent of adding a city around the size of Brisbane to Australia’s housing supply.”

Unsurprisingly, question marks and criticism have been circling about the scale of the $32 billion plan.

Here in the Australian Conveyancer our latest special report delves into the data with the insights of experts to guide you through the nation’s shifting housing landscape.