Reading the Regional Crystal Ball

If you believe everything you read, our city property markets may grow 20% over the next 12 months, with regional areas riding their coat-tails. Or vice-versa. Or maybe not at all!

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The point being, of course, that none of us owns a property crystal ball (or any crystal ball for that matter), which is why it's essential to do our own thorough research before we make the most expensive investment most of us will ever make.

Recent figures from CoreLogic found that dwelling values in regional Australia increased by 13 per cent over the past year compared to 6.4 per cent for capital cities. *CoreLogic Data May 2021

However, this data showing regional property prices outpacing growth in capital cities may trip up some novice property investors, according to a leading buyers’ agent, Kate Hill (www.advisable.com.au).

“The stellar results may also send the wrong signal to first-time property investors that every regional location is a sure-fire investment winner,” she said.

“Clearly, pent up demand and a number of other factors, including record-low interest rates, are motivating more investors to buy into markets near and far, but the fundamentals must stack up over the long-term.”

Ms Hill said that while there had been an increase in the numbers of people moving away from cities to regional areas, only time would tell whether that trend would become permanent.