Great migration: Why Covid exodus is no hoax

We’ve been chatting about the exodus from capital cities a lot since Covid came-a-calling, and it’s not just all talk and no action.

Just a couple of happy regional residents who have zero intention of ever returning to the big smoke. Picture: Supplied.

• Stressed? Paint your house this colour

We’ve been talking about the exodus from capital cities a lot since Covid came-a-calling, but is it all talk and no action? The Regional Australia Institute, a think tank that looks at just this, has announced that for the first time on record, the population in regional Australia grew, while capital cities actually declined. Albury North (pop. 47,974), is a six-hour drive from Sydney, a three-hour drive to Melbourne or Canberra and it has a rental vacancy rate of 0.1 per cent. In the past 12 months, rents have jumped by $100 per week, and
in that same period house prices have risen
37 per cent.

Regional life has its bonuses — such as grown your own veg as Mal Saayman is now doing. Picture: Supplied.

Ray White Albury North real estate agent Andrea Lever says investors, most from Sydney, have added to the increase in house prices. “There is a real shortage of properties right now. This region, at the end of 2020 was in the top five regions for rental yield. People have bought properties sight unseen.” Registered nurse Lyra Lapus and her family made the move from outer Sydney to Albury in January this year.
In her family of five, she was the last one to agree to the move.

“Why would I leave Sydney after being here for 27 years?”, she recalls asking her family. But a career opportunity was available for her husband, and after the decision was made they pounced on a property in the suburb of Lavington. They sold their 210 sqm townhouse for $648,000 and moved into their new 1021 sqm home with a large garden space for $645,000. The house offered everyone (including the five dogs) masses of space inside and out, and presented Lyra with the chance to work on decorating her new home, work she has enjoys so much she has even started an Instagram page My Lavington Home.

Lyra (right) is over the moon with her new home in the regions. Picture: Supplied.

And work doesn’t stop there. She has two jobs including community nursing, a step down from her former standing as a clinical nurse manager in Sydney. The work is physically more demanding but she enjoys it enormously, travelling all around the district, meeting the locals. “They’re less rude compared to Sydney which is one of the things I love – people have time to stop and chat.” And of course, the area is so very different. “Whichever direction I take when I’m driving there is always a mountain at the end of the street. Always a great view, Green Mountains, horses, kangaroos everywhere.”

A room high in style at Lyra’s Lavrington home. Picture: Supplied.

Her lilting accent gives away Lyra’s Philippine roots, which some may have feared would complicate her move to regional Australia. But she has only noticed a couple of times that she has been made to feel uncomfortable. As for missing things in the big city; there are only a few things such as specialty spice stores and maybe being able to pop into Ikea or Cosco. However, Sydney friends are given a shopping list before they come to visit and a trip to the big stores is not impossible, just challenging. Her husband too has had to make adjustments to his new work life, and the kids (the 16, 14, and 12-year- olds are still at home full-time) are doing well, but not yet feeling entirely settled, which Lyra says is saddening. While some may see this as not a 100 per cent success so far, the Lapus family see it through the lens of their strong Christian faith as a humbling experience, which is still evolving. This is their new ‘forever’ home.

Paul and wife Mal could not be happier with their new rural life. Picture: Supplied.

fresh fruit, veg and air

In Queensland, Paul Saayman and wife Mal are also taking on new experiences after their move from Brisbane to Agnes Waters (pop. 2200) in North Queensland. “It used to take me an hour to drive to work,” says Paul. “and that was leaving at 4.30 in the morning.” The Saaymans and their two adult children moved to a tropically lush, peaceful farm not far from the town centre.  

He’s currently finishing off building a couple of cottages on the farm for his kids, and renovating the main house for he and his wife, all things he would never have the space or time to do in Brisbane. “It was a total lifestyle change. I’ve left construction, I’ve studied for my real estate agent’s licence and all that, and now I’m starting off a real estate agency,” says the new LJ Hooker agent. There is very little he misses about the city, except perhaps the big shopping malls.  

But there again, as he points out, Bundaberg which has everything, is just an hour’s drive away. For the Saaymans family, the move is everything they had hoped for, but down the road, would they ever think of reversing the move? “Not a chance, I don’t even like visiting there anymore,” adds Paul with a hearty laugh.

Australia — so many places to visit, maybe stay. Illustration: iStock.

sea, air and room to move

Long-term international travel writer Sally Macmillan and her architect/designer husband Geoff sold off their large Newport home on Sydney’s northern beaches and rented for a while before making the move to Bensville (pop. 2515) on the NSW Central Coast. “We were familiar with the area after holidaying at McMasters Beach, which is an 8min drive from us now, so we already had a connection, “says Sally who, together with her husband Geoff, was looking forward to a slightly less rushed stage of their lives. “We have a three-bedroom house with a good- sized garden on a single level, which is smart for getting older. Geoff has a garage and a garden, so he’s in heaven,” says Sally.

Sally Macmillan at the Royal Motor Yacht Club at Newport on Sydney's northern beaches. Pretty sure but she loves her new life in the regions even more. Picture: News Corp.

Detractors of living regionally decry the lack of Michelin star restaurants or active art scene or even theatres. However, for many, such as Sally and Geoff, they weren’t hitting the tiles every night in Sydney anyway ‘but we do have a gorgeous little cinema in Avoca,” adds Sally. This just-right move is an easy one-and-a-half-hour trip back to Newport – using a train or a ferry, if not the car. And the keen yachties can easily make the commute when the races are on in Sydney. When pushed, the only downside that Sally can think of is the lack of local GPs. At this rate the capital city population downturn seems very likely to continue.