Aussies seek move from locked down Sydney, Melbourne, data reveals

Aussies have been inquiring about leaving two major capital cities in huge numbers to move to regional areas, new figures reveal.

Melbourne and Sydney recorded the highest share of inquiries from people keen to flee the cities last month as both wrestled with the Delta strain, new data reveals.

There was also a dip in the number of people considering a move to Australia’s two largest cities in July, according to Muval, an online booking platform for moving house.

The platform has used data obtained from the inquiries received to paint a picture of migration patterns.

It reveals Sydney suffered a -53 per cent drop in net migration in July, as more people considered moving out than in during the Covid lockdown.

Most craved a move to Melbourne, followed by Brisbane and Perth.

Inquiries for people seeking a move to Sydney plunged in July. Photo: NCA Newswire /Gaye Gerard

Overall, inquiries for removalists to help people move to Sydney were at their lowest levels since January 2020, Muval said.

Melbourne, now grappling with its sixth lockdown, also continued to see net migration drop to -49 per cent, based on the web inquiries.

Most people were considering moves to Brisbane and Perth, amid a downsizing trend to smaller cities and regions.

Sydney is tipped to see an exodus of people, mainly to sunny Brisbane.

“The trend we continue to see is Aussies downsizing to smaller cities and regional areas with Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Tasmania seeing growth in July,” Muval CEO James Morrell said.

The data, being used by the University of Queensland to predict internal migration patterns, is based on inquiries to move interstate over the next two to three months.

The move from Australia’s biggest city was expected to continue as more Sydneysiders were lured by the Brisbane sun.

“The data predicts we will see Sydney continue the exodus with residents generally relocating to Brisbane, followed by Melbourne and Perth,” Mr Morrell said.

More Melburnians sought to move out than in, the data suggests. Photo: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

Meanwhile, Melbourne was tipped to record a small level of growth, with Sydneysiders and some Brisbane residents moving there.

Perth was also predicted to boost its net migration figure, with strong numbers of people moving to Western Australia from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The exodus from major cities was revealed in the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures unveiled earlier this month.

Capital cities endured a net loss of 11,800 people from internal migration in the March quarter, the largest quarterly net loss on record.

Brisbane gained the most people through net internal migration, while Melbourne lost the most, closely followed by Sydney.