Lifestyle, family and housing lure young back north

Many Queenslanders who move away from Brisbane in their 20s often return to settle down and raise a family.

Joel and Bronte Berlin have returned to Brisbane after a decade in Melbourne establishing their careers. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

For many years, Brisbane residents have self-consciously lam­ented how hordes of young people leave the city, tempted by career opportunities and the ­attractions of Sydney and Melbourne.

Census data reveals the story doesn’t end there, and that the many Queenslanders who move away from Brisbane in their 20s often return home to settle down and raise a family.

Lifestyle benefits, a cheaper housing market and proximity to family have been put forward as some of the driving factors for their return to Queensland.

Those were among the reasons cited by business banker Joel ­Berlin, 29, and his chiropractor wife, Bronte, 28, who returned to Brisbane this year after almost a ­decade in Melbourne.

The couple, who married last year, share their story in a special Brisbane edition of The Deal on Friday. The magazine will feature stories about Brisbane’s development and the contemporary way of life in the Queensland capital.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that Brisbane had the country’s highest net internal ­migration of all capital cities in 2016-17 (12,000 people), which was well ahead of Melbourne (9200), ­Hobart (880) and Canberra (660).

The data showed that many young Queenslanders who left in their early 20s had returned with children in their early 30s.

The city also gained younger residents aged in their teens or early 20s as they moved to the city after finishing school. In 2016-17, the age groups of 15-24 and 25-44 recorded net domestic arrivals in Brisbane of more than 4000.

Mr Berlin said as a 21-year-old, he liked Brisbane but, after also considering Sydney and ­London, left for Melbourne because he assumed his career would benefit from him working in a ­bigger city.

“There were financial insti­tutions I had goals of working with that didn’t even have offices in Brisbane,” he said. “We settled in very quickly and I secured a new dream job within 12 months.”

Mr Berlin said even though the couple grew professionally, financially and socially during their time in Melbourne, they grew tired of the “rat race” and wanted to be closer to their families and what they saw as a better lifestyle.

“We’ve got some friends from Brisbane currently living in Sydney who are considering moving back to Brisbane soon too,” he said.