House prices in 11 regional areas have passed the $1-million mark to become the most expensive regional towns in Australia, with prices accelerating faster than capital cities.
Corelogic’s quarterly regional market update analysed 319 local government areas and all but homes on the Cassowary Coast in Queensland and units in Bunbury in WA recorded growth last year.
The Byron Shire has the most expensive median house value of any area at $1,838,286, up 30.2 per cent and above Sydney’s median house price of $1,389,948, Melbourne’s $1,002,464 and Brisbane’s $809,813.
Kiama, 90km south of Sydney, recorded the biggest increase in house prices, up 43.9 per cent, taking its median value to $1,633,086.
Across the country regional property prices notched a 26.1 per cent annual increase despite the rest of the housing market starting to slow.
Prices accelerated 6.3 per cent in the quarter to January, compared to capital cities which went up 3.4 per cent for the same period and 21.3 per cent in the year.
Most expensive regional towns in Australia
| Rank | Location | Median Price | Annual Change | Units in the Area |
| 1 | Byron (NSW) | $1,838,286 | 30.2% | $1,313,911 (29.5%) |
| 2 | Kiama (NSW) | $1,633,086 | 43.9% | $852,453 (24.6%) |
| 3 | Queenscliffe (Vic) | $1,584,432 | $29.6% | N/A |
| 4 | Surf Coast (Vic) | $1,575,999 | 29.9% | N/A |
| 5 | Noosa (Qld) | $1,374,802 | 35.0% | $1,057,091 (34.6%) |
| 6 | Wingecarribee (NSW) | $1,276,100 | $34.8% | $822,799 (31.0%) |
| 7 | Wollongong (NSW) | $1,073,734 | 29.8% | $706,526 (22.5%) |
| 8 | Ballina (NSW) | $1,093,908 | 28.6% | $782,654 (27.4%) |
| 9 | Gold Coast (Qld) | $1,017,064 | 36.3% | $597,672 (26.7%) |
| 10 | Sunshine Coast (Qld) | $1,002,379 | 35.5% | $656,248 (29.8%) |
| 11 | Tweed (NSW) | $1,001,875 | 31.2% | $667,668 (29.6%) |
^Source: Corelogic regional market update February 2022
Corelogic head of research Eliza Owen said that usually capital and regional cities performed in line with each other with a lead-lag relationship of three to six months.
“Through the current cycle, capital city markets hit their peak growth rates in April 2021, so if we were to assume the long-term property cycle relationship still holds, regional dwelling market growth rates would have started to slow in late 2021,” Owen said.
“What was unique about the end of last year was that this pattern changed.
“Coming off the back of eased lock down conditions across Sydney, Melbourne and the ACT, regional price growth instead accelerated toward the end of the year, while capital city dwelling price growth continued to slow.
“Despite the recent exuberance, I would expect growth rates in regional Australia to start slowing early this year.”
Capital city prices to drop 14pcThe most recent outlook for capital cities was far worse with Westpac expecting a 2 per cent gain in 2022 before dwelling prices to decline by 14 per cent to 2024.
“In January we moved to the view that the RBA would begin its tightening cycle earlier and hike rates further, the cash rate forecast to begin rising in August 2022 to a peak of 1.75 per cent in March 2024,” Wespac economists Bill Evans and Matthew Hassan reported.
“The shift brings forward the timing of an anticipated correction phase for housing markets and means it will extend into 2024.
“Despite some further gains near term, Westpac expects declines later in the year to see dwelling prices post a net gain of just 2 per cent over 2022. Prices are then forecast to fall 7 per cent in 2023 and a further 5 per cent in 2024, stabilising towards the end of that year.”
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