Initial signs are positive for Townsville’s property market, which is experiencing a bounce following the impact of COVID-19. Government first home builders’ grants have led to a surge in demand for new homes with developers around the city reporting significant increases in demand.

The promising short-term boost has come as demographers are forecasting that COVID-19 might increase a trend in population shift to regional Australia. It’s anticipated that regional cities could benefit from economic and community changes resulting from the pandemic, including remote work arrangements becoming more popular, domestic manufacturing growing, and more people looking for less densely populated areas.

This may prove to be accelerating an existing trend, with the Regional Australia Institute releasing a report in June finding that contrary to expectations, regional areas had a net gain in population from the capital cities between 2011 and 2016. The report found the key drivers for movement to regional areas were mining employment opportunities, affordability, and lifestyle.

With a great lifestyle and access to key economic drivers including agriculture, mining and tourism, North and Far North Queensland is ready to play its part.

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