Latest news with #GreaterGeelong
The Guardian
31-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘Don't tell them ... they'll all come': why are so many sea-changers moving to Geelong?
For the first time, Victoria's Greater Geelong has become Australia's most popular regional town, ending a two-year winning streak from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. The latest Regional Movers Index report shows in the 12 months to the March quarter, the Greater Geelong local government area had a 9.3% share of total net internal migration, compared with the Sunshine Coast's 8.9%. Just an hour from Melbourne, the coastal town was formerly famous mostly for being the home of the Cats (the city's beloved AFL team) and the last resting place of Australia's car manufacturing industry. Now, the city is changing and growing as a wave of people are taking a fresh look. So what are they finding that is so attractive? First, everyone mentions housing: it's just so much cheaper. Then, lifestyle – a 10-minute drive to work in the morning, a walk to the park – before it's back to affordability again. It really is just so much cheaper. Tanisha Tod jokes the locals will hate her talking about it. 'Don't tell them [up in Melbourne],' she says. 'Then they'll all come.' She is standing on the jetty, Corio Bay shimmering behind her. It's postcard-pretty, this spot where she has lunch. Tod moved her young family in January 2024 from Melbourne. 'Public schools in the west of Melbourne didn't seem too promising,' she says. 'The overcrowding of schools in the west, it's like 3,000, 4,000 kids. 'We looked around. We looked at the east, rent was like $900 a week, $1,000 a week. And then I was like, you know what? Let's just go to Geelong. 'We found an amazing four-bedroom place for $600 a week, and an amazing school zone, which my daughter is in now.' Her husband was reluctant to come, but now he finishes every week in Torquay, just south of Geelong, where they go to the beach after work. Back in Melbourne, Tod was looking at taking an extra job, but now the family eat out. They go on holiday and put the kids in extracurricular activities without worrying about money. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Malaysian-born, Tod says since moving to Geelong they have been welcomed with open arms – it's the first time she has felt 'part of the Australian community'. Geelong has a growing arts scene and great restaurant culture, and, Tod pauses, even Dave Grohl, the lead singer of the Foo Fighters, picked the bay-side city over Melbourne. 'When Covid lifted, the Foo Fighters came to Geelong to perform,' she says. 'They didn't go to Melbourne. They chose Geelong.' Geelong's influx comes amid an uptick of movement out of metropolitan areas to the regions, with capital city to regional relocations increasing by almost 11% on the last quarter, says Liz Ritchie, the CEO of the Regional Australia Institute. 'We can now see that 25% more people are moving from capital cities than the opposite direction, and actually net migration to regional Australia overall is 40% above pre-Covid average,' Ritchie says. Greater Geelong's ascent on the leaderboard is set against a background of a rise in popularity in regional Victoria as a whole; the state captured 34% of the total net inflows into all of regional Australia during the March 2025 quarter, larger than the 28% share in the March 2024 quarter. Leading the charge are millennials and gen Z, who are looking for more affordable housing and a lower cost of living outside the capitals. The managing director at the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Michael Fotheringham, says 'the outflow from the capitals to the regional centres has become stronger than the inflow'. He says prices along Queensland's Sunshine Coast have come closer into line with Brisbane recently. Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion But the rise of remote working, and concerted effort from state governments to decentralise – such as Penrith in Sydney – have made employment opportunities stronger in the regions, he says. 'The challenge historically has been housing was cheaper but employment opportunities were much more limited. What a number of states have now been successful in doing is generating real industry in those regional centres.' Beck Thistleton and her family didn't move to Geelong because of the price, but she certainly isn't complaining about it. 'My eldest, Tommi, she's autistic, she's very bright, and because it's not really a brand of autism that a lot of teachers have got a lot of training with, we were having a lot of problems with her,' she says. Tommi was running away from school, and sometimes just refusing to go. Thistleton and her husband, who were renting in Kensington in Melbourne, moved to Armstrong Creek on the outskirts of Geelong because the local school was one of the first to pilot an inclusive program for autistic kids. 'I thought I was going to have to quit work to home-school but my daughter has gone to school ever since.' The family now pay $300 a week less to live in a bigger house with an extra room and a massive back yard. Thistleton has joined the local gym, goes to yoga in the morning and says one of the things she loves is how active Geelong is. 'Because people aren't driving for 45 minutes into work every day,' she says. 'There's time for those activities, to be looking after yourself and go for a swim before work.' Jess Templeton has been selling houses in Geelong for 12 years now. The estate agent says prices are rising as interstate investors look for a bargain, people from Melbourne move down and young families scale up. 'There's opportunity in Geelong,' she says. 'Most of our listings are selling in two to four weeks. So over the last 100 homes, our average days on the market is 27. But a lot of them are selling within a week. Last week we had one, five days.' Templeton says for $500,000 there are parts of the city where you can still buy a stand-alone house on a 60-sq-metre block with three bedrooms and one bathroom. 'It would take us 12 minutes to get to the CBD,' she says. For $1m you could easily get a four-bedroom home in a nice school zone area, she says. 'That's why people are coming here.'
News.com.au
28-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
'Economic leader': Aussies flock to new regional hotspot
Victoria's Greater Geelong has become the nation's new top spot for regional migration, according to Commonwealth Bank's Regional Mover Index. Greater Geelong has toppled the Sunshine Coast's two-year winning streak with 9.3 per cent of total net internal migration in the March quarter 2025. The report, in partnership with the Regional Australian Institute, shows the trend of moving regionally that accelerated during the Covid pandemic is continuing, with 25 per cent more people moving from capital cities to the regions. RAI chief executive Liz Ritchie said Australians were leaving capital cities for the regions and not coming back. 'Regional Australia is being reimagined,' she said. 'The regions' enviable lifestyle offerings, buoyant jobs market, position as an economic leader and diverse communities are proving to be an ongoing lure, particularly for those in metropolitan areas. 'Contemporary regional Australia has what people are looking for and it's clear cliched images and misconceptions about regional living are well and truly a thing of the past.' Regional Australia's population now sits at 9.91 million, with the CBA indicating that number will continue to grow. CBA acting executive general manager Josh Foster said Geelong demonstrated Victoria's vitality. 'It's pleasing to see annual population growth is continuing to benefit Australia's regional economy as more people are drawn to the lifestyle and employment opportunities found beyond metropolitan areas,' he said. 'In a first for the RMI, Greater Geelong has become the star performer due to its idyllic location, established services and range of employment opportunities.' To support the demand for housing, the Victorian government has set a target of an additional 128,600 dwellings in Greater Geelong by 2051. Sydney exodus continues Sydney continued to record the largest net outflows of all capital cities, driven by higher house prices in the Harbour City. The report said 40 per cent of those leaving Sydney were going to regional NSW, while 17 per cent were heading north to regional Queensland, a drop from 30 per cent this time last year. Despite the fall, the Sunshine Coast still ranks second overall, while the Gold Coast, Townsville and Fraser Coast are also picking up ex-Sydneysiders. 'Queensland's warmer climate and generally more affordable housing in regional locations ensures that it remains a magnet for movers from Sydney and Melbourne,' Mr Foster said. Movement was not restricted to the eastern seaboard, with Victor Harbor in South Australia recording strong interest from regional movers and Denmark and Harvey in Western Australia remaining popular with both regional and city movers alike. The index focuses specifically on movement to and from regional areas and excludes capital city moves.
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Geelong overtakes Sunshine Coast as top tree- and sea-change destination
While the Geelong Cats are fifth on the AFL ladder, their home city is the reigning champion. The Victorian region has become the most popular place for people escaping capital cities to settle, with its picturesque coastline and thriving industry making it an ideal sea-change destination. Greater Geelong has overtaken Queensland's Sunshine Coast as the top region to welcome new residents from the capital cities, followed by Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Moorabool in Victoria and Maitland in NSW. The Regional Movers Index, a quarterly report compiled by the Regional Australia Institute using Commonwealth Bank data, also shows most tree-changers are coming from Sydney and Melbourne. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The rate of people moving to Australia's regions increased by more than 10% in the March quarter, according to the index released on Wednesday. The shift to country life, which accelerated during Covid lockdowns, would only persist as the regions attracted more attention and potential investment, according to a Commonwealth Bank executive, Josh Foster. 'They're idyllic locations to move, whether people want the tree-change or the sea-change,' Foster said. 'I certainly don't see it going back.' Greater Geelong is Australia's largest regional council area, home to more than 282,000 people. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion While the region has a bright future, it is experiencing significant growing pains, according to the council's draft five-year plan. Like most regional areas, greater Geelong is confronting a housing shortage, ageing infrastructure and congestion as it expands. 'Greater Geelong is one of Australia's fastest-growing regions, and managing this expansion will be crucial to our success over the coming decades,' the plan says. Maitland, in the Hunter Valley, is also experiencing rapid growth, attracting residents from capitals and other regions. It was the most popular new home for people moving from other regional areas in the year to March, followed by greater Geelong, the Sunshine Coast, Gympie and the Fraser coast. Maitland, which had a population of 78,000 in 2016, is on track to exceed 100,000 people by the end of 2026, with six new residents arriving every day, according to a council report. The nation's regional population sits at 9.91 million and is set to increase, according to the Regional Australia Institute's chief executive, Liz Ritchie. 'There are big economic gains to be made by supporting, facilitating and nurturing growth across the regions,' Ritchie said. 'Those benefits can only be achieved … by ensuring communities have the infrastructure, facilities, funding and support they need to continue to welcome all those who are actively choosing a regional life.'
