Regional areas are the top choices of city dwellers who are looking for a tree change.
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Queanbeyan is one of the top choices for people making the move, according to the inaugural Regional Movers Index, compiled by the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) in partnership with the Commonwealth Bank.
Mayor Tim Overall said that regional cities across NSW are experiencing unprecedented population growth resulting in widespread housing shortages.
According to statistics, 189 residential buildings were approved to be built in the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) area in the financial year 2020-21 April FYTD, a slight increase from 183 in 2019-20.
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"Across Queanbeyan, we normally see sales of around 400 housing lots a year but suddenly in the last 12 months this has increased to over 1000 lots per year," Mayor Overall said.
Real estate agents feel that while the demand for residential properties and affordable rentals is increasing, the availability of such properties is less than the demand.
Tom Velk, director of Oz property real estate in Queanbeyan said that the waitlist of people looking for affordable rentals and residential properties is getting longer.
"The demand is so high that properties are being rented out within three days at this point," Mr Velk said.
"The majority of these properties are being taken by those who are making the move from the city to regional areas as it gives them a more affordable option compared to the cities.
"Queanbeyan's close proximity to Canberra also makes it a favourable location for many as they choose to live here and travel to the city."
Kate Murphy, licensed real estate agent, Belle Property Braidwood said that Braidwood was in a similar situation as more people had the flexibility to work from home and they had realised that they don't have to live in the city to work.
"This has pushed up the demand for residential properties in the area. The value of some of the properties here have increased by $80,000," she said.
Meanwhile, the projected growth of population in the QPRC area is expected to increase. In the 2016 Census, the population was 56,027 and it was expected to increase to 62,239 as per ABS Estimated Resident Population in 2020.
Mayor Tim Overall said that the recently released report by Regional Australia Institute and the Commonwealth Bank has underlined Queanbeyan's population growth with the study revealing that the Queanbeyan-Palerang Local Government Area is the seventh fastest growing LGA out of 75 in Australia (in terms of migration shift from capital cities).
"Queanbeyan-Palerang being only surpassed by Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Geelong, Wollongong, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie," he said.
"Bungendore is expected to have a medium to high population growth rate over the next 20 or so years with the number of dwellings potentially increasing from near 1400 to over 2500.
"The modest population growth of Braidwood, which is currently experiencing housing pressure partly due to the Majors Creek gold mining operation, is expected to continue into the immediate future."
