In good news for the continuing growth of regional property markets, the number of people leaving capital cities behind increased again in the first quarter of 2025.

The March 2025 quarter Regional Movers Index, which tracks migration to regional areas, shows a 10.5% increase in moves from cities to the regions in the first quarter of the year. Regional Australia’s population is now estimated to be 9.91 million people. The report shows that city residents moving to regions outnumbered regional people making a move in the opposite direction by 25%.

For the first time in more than two years, the Sunshine Coast was toppled from the top spot for capital city to regional movers. Greater Geelong took out the top spot with a 7.4% share of regional movers, followed closely by the Sunshine Coast with a 7.3% share, and then the Gold Coast with a 4.4% share.

Greater Geelong also headed the list of locations where people moved from any location in Australia (both from cities and other regional centres). It experienced a significant increase in net migration during the 12 months to March 2025, resulting in it accounting for 9.3% of all net migration to regions. The Sunshine Coast is again in second spot, Lake Macquarie in NSW is third on the list, Moorabool in Victoria is fourth, while Maitland in NSW rounds out the top five.

CoreLogic’s June Home Value Index shows that the value of the combined regional property markets increased by 1.6% in the past quarter. Over the past 12 months, regional property values are up 5.3% and capital city values are up 2.6%.