The latest price data from two of the biggest sources of real estate information shows a resurgence in the regional areas, in competition with the capital cities.

The background to this is that the combined regions have outperformed on capital growth since Covid, with regional areas generally out-performing the big cities in the past four years.

But in the past 12 months, the tables have turned somewhat, with the cities overtaking the regions on growth in median prices, led by Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.

Now, we’ve seen another twist, with the latest statistics from both PropTrack and CoreLogic indicating that the combined regions have had a resurgence since the start of 2024.

Let’s look at the PropTrack numbers first.

PropTrack figures indicate that the Combined Regions had 0.3% growth in the home price index in April, compared to 0.21% in the Capital Cities.

The highest growth for April was in Perth, followed by Adelaide, but with the regional areas of NSW, Queensland and WA also exceeding the national average growth figure.

In annual terms, the cities are ahead, up 7.2% compared to 5.1% in the regions.

Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane have all had exceptional growth, but the regional markets in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia have all increased by more than 10% in the past 12 months.

The under-achievers in the past 12 months have been Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra and Darwin, as well as Regional Victoria and Regional Tasmania.

We really do have multi-speed markets, which is the norm in Australia at any point in time.

But since the Covid era started, the regions have been the overall stars, with home prices rising 55% in four years, compared to 36% by the capital cities.

In that four-year period, the biggest increase had been by Regional Queensland, up 68%, with Regional South Australia close behind with a 67% increase.

Next is Adelaide, followed by Brisbane and Perth.

Three other regional markets grew more than 50% in four years – NSW, WA and Tasmania.

CoreLogic has different numbers from PropTrack, which also is normal, but the market patterns are similar.

The CoreLogic figures show that in the past 12 months, the cities are ahead with house prices rising 10.3%, while the combined regions have risen 6.3%.

But more recently, the regions have excelled.

In April, house prices in the regions increased 0.8%, compared to 0.5% in the capital cities – with the regional markets in Queensland, South Australia and WA all rising more than 1%.

But the single biggest increase was Perth, up 2%, while Adelaide increased 1.2%.

In the latest quarter, the regions are up 2.1%, compared to 1.7% in the cities, with the regional markets of WA, South Australia and Queensland again leading the way – but again with Perth recording the biggest individual increase.

In the year to date, the first four months of 2024, the combined regions have grown 2.6% compared to 2.2% by the combined capital cities. 

It’s a similar scenario with the unit markets.

In the year to date, the combined regions have growth 2.8% against 1.7% in the capital cities – and in the unit markets, the regions are also ahead in the past 12 months, up 7.2% compared to 6.7% in the cities.

In the cities, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth have all excelled on unit price growth, but Melbourne, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra have been weak and dragged down the capital city average.

In the regions, Queensland is the leader and South Australia, WA and NSW have all performed solidly.

The overall message in the data is that affordability is the key factor.

Whichever way you look at the price data, the outstanding performers have not been expensive cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra - but smaller cities like Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane, and the affordable regional markets.