Why Lauren Ho and family are moving from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast

A Sydney-based family of five purchased a Sunshine Coast home without seeing it in person and now they can’t wait to make the move. See why:

Desperate to escape the Covid chaos that locked down Sydney residents for more than 100 days, a family of five have joined many others in their migration to the Sunshine State.

Lauren Ho, her husband and her three young daughters all struggled mentally when New South Wales experienced an avalanche of cases and the family were inevitably faced with the challenges of lockdown.

“Lockdown was really, really tough this time around,” Ms Ho said.

“We want normality back for our kids.”

A Sydney-based family of five purchased a Sunshine Coast home without seeing it in person and they can't wait to make the move to Queensland.

Despite having no immediate family or many connections in Queensland, Ms Ho decided starting from scratch with making friends didn’t matter if it meant her family would be happier and less stressed.

Ms Ho began the difficult search to find a property on the Sunshine Coast and was lucky enough to find one off the market.

“The market is really tough to get into, especially not being there to view houses and make offers,” she said.

“We had a really awesome real estate agent so it’s been really stress free.

“We’ve bought a house sight unseen, it’s going through contract.”

A Sydney-based family of five purchased a Sunshine Coast home without seeing it in person and they can't wait to make the move to Queensland.

The family was drawn to the Sunshine Coast due to its laidback nature and simple lifestyle, and decided the Gold Coast was too similar to “rushed” and “expensive” Sydney.

“The Sunshine Coast is a really beautiful place and we could see ourselves settling down there,” Miss Ho said.

“Our kids are looking forward to making new friends up there and living near the coast. It’s not very family orientated where we are in Sydney.”

A Sydney-based family of five purchased a Sunshine Coast home without seeing it in person and they can't wait to make the move to Queensland.

Recent data released from the Regional Movers Index confirmed the rapid increase in residents moving from Sydney and Melbourne to enjoy sunny southeast Queensland.

The Sunshine Coast recorded the largest growth in migration from capital cities, being up 24 per cent in the March 2021 quarter and 14 per cent when compared to the same month last year.

Noosa, in particular, recorded a significant quarterly growth in migration from capital cities compared with a year earlier, recording an increase of 49%.

Single mum Nikki Nielsen was one of those residents as she moved up from Melbourne to Noosa at the start of 2021 after she was “mentally struggling” being faced with on and off lockdowns.

“We love the weather, lifestyle and beaches on the Sunshine Coast,” Ms Nielsen said.

Just like Ms Ho, Ms Nielsen also bought a property without seeing it, which she said was the only way to get into the Sunshine Coast housing market from interstate.

“It wasn’t scary because we knocked down and built a new house on the land,” she said.