Gympie, Bundaberg, Fraser Coast home to growing number of Covid lockdown escapees

The Wide Bay has become the place to be for a growing number of people fleeing Australia’s southern states, but the influx is causing headaches for those late to the party.

The Racovalis family (from lefdt) Lachlan, James, Kim, Tess and Linda, helped lead the charge of a growing influx of Victorian and New South Wlaes residents heading to the Wide Bay for health reasons.

Kim Racovalis is one of the lucky ones.

Just before COVID-19 plunged southern states into lockdowns, she’d already made the decision to pack up her Victorian family and head north.

Reeling from a recent Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis an auto-immune disease escaped the bitter winter for a sunny Queensland holiday and soon settled here permanently.

The Racovalis family was at the front of a growing charge of Victorian and New South Wales residents fleeing the southern states with lockdown refugees now helping drive a Wide Bay property market surge agents across the region say are calling unprecedented

Now living south of Gympie in a modern house set on an acreage, Mrs Racovalis said they could not be happier in their new home and are relieved they left when they did.

Linda, Kim, Tess, James and Lachlan Racovalises secured their dream home in Gympie, but many people trying to flee Covid lockdown areas are finding the market tough to crack.

Not everyone has been able to secure a home.

Fellow Victorian Lindee Bibby has experienced first-hand the struggles that come with getting into the local market.

She has dreamt of moving to Queensland for the last nine years, dreading every Melbourne winter.

But her determination to escape reached fever pitch when the pandemic hit.

“We have been watching our children suffer mentally because they’re not allowed at school, sport’s cancelled all the time,” she said.

“My son, a motorbike enthusiast who races flat track, hasn’t raced for almost two years; seeing his mental health decline, we decided it was time.”

The Bibby family currently lives in Warburton, 72km east of Melbourne.

Despite having a population of 1600 people and zero Covid cases thus far, their town has been subject to off and on lockdowns since the start of 2020.

“Looking at the Queensland map, Gympie stood out for us,” she said.

“(One home) was just perfect, we had been looking for months and months, and so we rushed up here to view it, and on our way up here we got a call from the agent to say it was under offer.”

Then, disaster struck when the New South Wales and Queensland border closed, leaving the family stranded at Tweed Heads for months.

Two days before the border reopened the agent to say the sale had fallen through and the house was back on the market.

As of this weekend, the Bibbys had put an offer in and were hoping to sell their house in Melbourne and secure a border pass.

Gympie Century 21 owner Billy Mitchell said interest from New South Wales and Victorians accounted for about 15 per cent of the region’s market – a figure he said might not sound like much but added to a market already inundated with southeast Queensland interest, it made for intense competition.

Century 21 Gympie principal Billy Mitchell said the growing interest from southern buyers was adding to a Gympie market already inundated with interest from the southeast corner.

Mr Mitchell said it was the strongest he’d seen the local market in his decade in the industry.

“Our weather plays a big part in it, and out affordability plays a big part in it,” Mr Mitchell said.

While it might not be good news for buyers, it’s a seller’s market.

One Southside property expected to snag about $500,000 wound up selling for $540,000, almost 10 per cent higher.

“It’s important for sellers at the moment not to put a limit on their expectations,” he said.

“A lot of the properties are going in to multiple offers.”

Justin and Lindee Bibby have dreamt of moving to coming to Gympie for almost a decade, but the post-Covid property squeeze is causing problems. Photo: contributed.

RealWay Bundaberg Principal Brent Illingworth the market at the northern tip of the Wide Bay was “very, very tight”, especially for rentals.

He said while restrictions in New South Wales and Victoria were currently preventing people from moving to Bundaberg in the physical sense, it was not hindering investment in the region.

“The extreme shortage has pushed prices up across the board,” he said.

“I think the biggest thing southerners are moving here is the lifestyle.

RealWay Bundaberg Principal Brent Illingworth said lifestyle was the main drawcard in Bundaberg’s property market.

“During Covid you couldn’t go anywhere so people were travelling locally, and Queensland is a big state, but we found a lot of people travelling stayed here and bought a house, it’s fascinating.

“A lot of the people who can’t get here are buying investment wise; we’re getting up to a dozen phone calls a day from people who have been told Bundy is the place to buy.

“Three bedroom homes getting $300 a week is a great return. In Bundy return percentages five to eight per cent are very achievable, much better than banks.”

The competition is making it particularly hard for local buyers to get into a market where cashed up southerners selling higher-value homes in the city and prepared to bay big money in the Wide Bay.

Mr Illingworth said local buyers needed to be prepared “now more than ever” and should speak to their bank and have their pre-approval letters ready to go before they started searching.

“Often, at the moment, properties don’t go to a second open house,” he said.

“It’s not good enough not to come ready to buy.”