Any investor not considering Regional Australia in the current climate is missing the point completely about the state of play in real estate markets across the nation. Every metric that measures real estate market performance has the regions outperforming the capital cities.   While some of the smaller capital cities are doing well in the pandemic period, the best performers on vacancies, rents and in particular prices are in the regional areas. Mainstream media is gradually waking up to the reality that the biggest story in Australian real estate is the trend I call the Exodus to Affordable Lifestyle.   More and more Australians are leaving the big, expensive, congested cities and heading to regional cities and towns that offer a more relaxed and more affordable lifestyle. The ability to work remotely has enhanced the trend, helped also by improved transport links in many cases.   The pandemic period, with its lockdowns which forced people to work from home, has made this trend even stronger.   Regional centres within 1-2 hours of their capital cities are thriving from this trend. And it’s spreading further out, with people seeking either a sea change or a hill change, driven with affordability and a better lifestyle.   In the past two years, the strongest markets in the nation in terms of the locations delivering price growth have been Tasmania and Regional Victoria.   And in the past 12 months, many locations in Regional South Australia have recorded good growth in the median prices, but few Australians would know about it.   And the trend has continued through the pandemic period. The location-by-location analysis conducted every quarter by Hotspotting shows that markets with rising prices are the rule, not the exception, in these regional areas.   A characteristic common to many of these markets is very low vacancy rates, as well as strong and diversified economies and increasing demand for real estate.   This means these locations are solidly-placed to withstand the worst of the virus crisis and to continue on their growth paths.   This makes the publication of my new edition of the National Top 10 Regional Hotspots report very timely.   The report highlights the markets which are pumping the strongest across Australia – and they’re all places with good prospects for long-term growth, as well as the uplift that’s currently under way.   So make sure you read the new 2020-21 edition of my National Top 10 Regional Hotspots report.