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In March this year, they packed up their lives in Melbourne and made the move permanent. Six months on, Jenelle can’t imagine going back.
“There’s a difference between making the move because you really want to, and being pushed out. I knew what I was getting myself into.”

Jenelle relocated from Melbourne to a quiet town outside Albury in March — and she hasn’t looked back. Source: Supplied
The steady trickle to regional
It found 26 per cent more people are relocating from capital cities to regional areas than vice versa. Overall, regional migration remains strong despite falling to its lowest level since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Albury saw the biggest growth in capital-regional migration — a 16-fold increase. Source: SBS News
On the NSW-Victoria border, Albury recorded a 16-fold increase — or 1520 per cent — in net migration from capital cities in the 2024-25 financial year, the biggest surge of any regional hub in the country.
Greater Geelong, Victoria, slipped back to second place (7 per cent), while the Gold Coast, Queensland (5.9 per cent), Lake Macquarie, NSW (3.8 per cent) and Moorabool, Victoria (3.1 per cent), rounded out the top five most popular regional spots for capital city movers.

The largest regional hotspot was the Sunshine Coast, with Greater Geelong slipping back to second place. Source: SBS News
“Across Australia, this quarterly report shows an overall downturn in movement across the country of 15.2 per cent, which includes capital-to-capital relocation,” Liz Ritchie, CEO of the Regional Australia Institute (RAI), said in a statement.
The index uses Commonwealth Bank data of 14.6 million customers to track internal migrations and help identify growth trends in regional centres.

Overall, regional migration remains strong despite falling to its lowest level since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Source: SBS News
What’s driving the shift?
“That’s why regional areas are becoming more appealing, where around 14 per cent of houses and 31.3 per cent of units in regional Australia are actually cheaper to buy than rent, which is a huge drawcard for buyers.”
On the ground in Albury, Ray White agent Andrew Papallo has seen the boom first-hand and says families relocating from Melbourne are leading the charge, followed by buyers from Canberra and Sydney.
“Albury is handling the growth pretty well. There’s a lot more land being released.”
Can regional areas absorb the growth?
In Geelong, it’s a similar story, as it deals with a housing shortage, ageing infrastructure and congestion due to expansion.