Influx of city dwellers boosts house prices and demand in Geelong – realestate.com.au

Geelong retains its position as Australia’s second most popular regional city to live after the share of people leaving the capital cities increased in 2025.

Figures from the Regional Australia Institute show that 6.6 per cent of people who left a capital city settled in Geelong in the 12 months to September.

The city’s lifestyle and affordability saw the number of people leaving capital cities for good increase by 6 percent, the quarterly Regional Movers Index showed.

The Sunshine Coast remained the most popular regional destination, although the 7.1 per cent share of urban leavers showed almost 17 per cent fewer people heading north compared to the same period in 2024.

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A growing trend of people moving outside of Geelong has emerged, with an annual increase of 11.4 per cent on the Surf Coast and a fourfold increase in Colac-Otway Shire.

Rising demand from people leaving capital cities is playing a role in fueling property prices amid increasing competition for homes, putting pressure on meeting the region’s housing targets.

Data from the PropTrack Home Price Index showed a 3.2 per cent increase in Geelong’s median home value to $793,000 by the end of 2025.

Maxwell Collins Geelong agent Nick Lord said the movement of people from Melbourne is supporting Geelong’s property market.

Maxwell Collins managing director Nick Lord said interest from homebuyers leaving Melbourne is supporting the Geelong property market.

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“We’ve seen some very clear increases in traffic in Melbourne versus local buyers over a few cycles. At the moment I think it’s quite stable,” Mr Lord said.

“We are seeing a lot of people moving to Geelong for lifestyle or work.

“The lifestyle and word of mouth has really spread. Coupled with affordability and for people working from home, post-Covid has created a smaller barrier for people to commute interstate.”

RAI chief executive Liz Ritchie said the index shows net migration to regions increased by 11.8 per cent as regions gained thousands of additional residents, which is one of the highest levels since the Covid pandemic.

“We are seeing that the more movement there is into the regions, there is a greater number of destinations to choose from,” Ms Ritchie said.

Liz Ritchie, CEO of the Regional Australia Institute, said the federal government needs to better plan where housing should be built in regional Australia. Photo: Jonathan Ng

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“The battle between the Sunshine Coast and Geelong has always been quite fierce. But there is a broader story of relocation further south to places like Albury/Wodonga, the Tasmanian regions and Colac.

“It’s not that people move to these places and don’t work, they find a way to design the lives they want to live and live the lives they love.”

Ms Ritchie said the institute supports the federal government’s housing target, but called for more investment as the regional population increases.

Recent figures show that the National Housing Agreement is approximately 60,000 behind the target.

“There is a race to achieve a goal, but that goal is not accompanied by a plan,” she said.

“We have been saying for years that we need this population plan and map out where housing investments should go.”

The Regional Movers Index records the net migration of Commonwealth Bank customers from metropolitan areas to regional areas who have stayed for at least six months.