Groundswell Property's Market Insights
Regional Migration Boom, Land Prices Climb, Profits Rise & Auctions Heat Up – 29 March 2025
Welcome to this week’s edition of Groundswell Property’s Market Insights, where we cut through the media noise and deliver real, data driven updates on Australia’s ever-changing property market.
Image source: Luisa Denu, Unsplash
Key Highlights:
🌄 Regional migration booms as more city dwellers make a permanent escape.
🏗️ Adelaide land prices are now the most affordable of any capital city.
💰 Sellers are still pocketing strong profits, with Brisbane leading the pack.
🔨 Auction volumes surge with clearance rates holding steady across major cities.
As always, our goal is to provide evidence-based insights to help you make informed property decisions—whether you're buying, selling, or simply keeping a pulse on the market. Let’s dive into the data and insights shaping the year ahead.
Sunshine Coast, Lake Macquarie, Greater Geelong, Moorabool & Maitland Headline Regional Migration Boom
Australia’s regional cities continue to appeal to capital city dwellers with migration from cities to the regions outpacing movements in the reverse direction.
The latest Regional Movers Index shows 32.2% more people are moving from capital cities to regional areas than back in the opposite direction.
Migration from regional areas to the capitals, accounts for an 8.6% of moves which is the second-lowest share of regional-to-capital migration since COVID lockdowns were lifted three years ago.
City dwellers are increasingly flocking to regional New South Wales and Victoria, with the two states accounting for 71% of all net regional inflows in the December quarter of 2024 (up from 66% at the same time in 2023.)
The Sunshine Coast retained its position as the most popular regional destination for city movers for the ninth consecutive quarter, although that has been gradually declining.
Lake Macquarie was the second most popular destination, followed by Greater Geelong, Moorabool and Maitland.
South Australia Tops Nation For Most Affordable Land
Land prices are continuing to rise throughout Australia with Adelaide now recording the most affordable capital city land in Australia.
The median land lot price in Adelaide is $307,000 according to the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s annual State of the Land Report.
Perth is $329,000, Melbourne, $403,000, South-east Queensland $417,000, ACT $651,750 and Sydney is the most expensive at $666,667.
UDIA National President, Col Dutton, says while there are some positive signs of improved supply in the land market, the apartment and multi-unit sector continues to have record low levels of output, which is weighing heavily on dwelling production.
“Housing supply shortages are set to continue due to elevated (and still growing) material input costs, labour shortages, combined with high inflation leading to cost of living pressures and interest rate rises,” he says.
“Across the past two decades, Australia has significantly under delivered new dwelling supply across the nation. This undersupply has contributed to the ongoing erosion of housing affordability and has driven down home-ownership rates and led to increasing household indebtedness.”
$306K The Average Profit for 2024 Sellers
Solid price growth throughout 2024 means the majority of people selling are achieving nominal profits.
The latest CoreLogic Pain and Gain report shows that in the December quarter of 2024, there were 95,300 home resales and 94.8% of sellers made a nominal profit, with the median profit a record $306,000.
The number of sellers achieving a profit dropped slightly from the previous quarter result of 95.1% but gross profits from resales in the December quarter are estimated to be $35.6 billion - up from $35 billion in the previous quarter.
Sellers who made a loss usually held the property for a shorter period of time than those making a profit.
The median hold period for a profit-making sale was 9.3 years and 7.6 years for those that made a loss.
Brisbane had the highest level of profit making sales, 99.6%, followed by Adelaide, 99.1%, Perth 97.4%, Hobart, 94.7%, ACT, 93.3%, Sydney, 92.5%, Melbourne 89.2% and Darwin, 71.7%.
Auction Volumes Surge
Almost 2500 homes were offered for auction throughout Australia’s capital cities last week, with a further 2000 to go under the hammer this coming weekend.
The combined capital city clearance rate came in at 68.7% last week, with Melbourne achieving the highest clearance rate of 70.6%.
Sydney was 69.1%, Brisbane, 61.5% and Adelaide, 60.8%.
The results come as property listings continue to rise. REA Group figures show new listings rose by 16.4% in the past month although they remain 7.9% lower than at the same time last year.
Month-on-month new listings are up in all capital cities, while year-on-year new listings are only up in Brisbane and Adelaide.
PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh says both the combined capital cities (-7.0%) and combined regional markets (-9.5%) recorded fewer new listings compared to the same time last year.
New listings in Sydney (-7.3%) and Melbourne (-15.1%) are lower than at this time last year, while Adelaide is up 7.1% and Brisbane is up 4%.
Key Takeaways
🌏 The Australian property market continues to evolve, presenting both challenges and opportunities for investors, buyers, and developers alike. To stay ahead, it's critical to understand where the pressure points are and where the upside lies.
While land prices and construction costs remain a challenge, sellers are still profiting, regional demand is strong, and new housing stock is slowly catching up. As always, informed decision-making and clarity of strategy remain your best tools in this market.
As always, success in property comes down to having the right information, the right team, and the right strategy. If you want to make your next move with the confidence and preparedness needed to get the best result, get in touch via 0439754475
Thanks for joining us. See you next Saturday for more insights.
Tom Haigh
Director & Licensed Buyers Agent
Groundswell Property - Established 2015
tom@groundswellproperty.net
0439754475