Login
ISCOVER
A report released by a major bank has found a change in housing preferences among Australian home owners.
Westpac’s 2024 Home Ownership Report highlighted a significant shift in Australians’ housing preferences, driven by a desire for new living environments and more space.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
According to the report, 23 per cent of Australians are motivated to relocate to a new area, an increase from 16 per cent in 2021. Additionally, the desire to move to a new area has been a key factor for 34 per cent of Australians who have relocated in the past three years.
While capital cities remain popular, with 52 per cent of Australians preferring to live there, 76 per cent of respondents said they favoured suburban living over proximity to the CBD.
For those considering a move, the leading factor is seeking peaceful and quiet surroundings, cited by 58 per cent of respondents.
Younger Australians, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, are driving these trends. More than half of Gen Z (55 per cent) and Millennials (54 per cent) have moved within the past three years.
Damien MacRae, Westpac’s managing director of mortgages, noted that motivations for relocating are evolving.
“We’ve seen a strong increase in Australians wanting to buy in or move to a new area over the past three years as home owners seek more space and peaceful surroundings,” MacRae said.
MacRae also pointed to a shift in decision-making priorities, with the need for space surpassing investment potential. Preferences for features such as a spare bedroom (+4 per cent), a deck or veranda (+4 per cent), and additional family space (+2 per cent) have risen.
In response to these findings, MacRae highlighted the benefits of using home equity as an important tool to facilitate these moves.
“Home equity can help you build your wealth. It can be a deposit for a bigger home in a new area or the funds to renovate the home you live in. Having equity in your home is a huge benefit to owning a home – and it is important to understand,” MacRae said.
Additionally, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) recently reported a rising trend of city-siders moving into regional areas.
The quarterly Regional Movers Index (RMI) found that the number of city dwellers moving to regional Australia hit a 12-month high in the March 2024 quarter.
According to CBA, the number of city dwellers moving to the regions was 20 per cent above the pre-COVID-19 average.
[RELATED: City-to-regional movers causing flow-on effect: Brokers]
JOIN THE DISCUSSION