Millennials swapping city for regions

According to the Regional Movers Index, compiled by the Regional Australia Institute, the City of Greater Geraldton saw a fourfold increase in annual growth over the past year, two thirds of which is made up by residents previously living in Perth.

Geraldton mayor, Jerry Clune, said employment opportunities in a range of industries were luring people to the area.

"The opportunities that jobs are presenting up this way are attracting a lot of younger people, willing to be more mobile and accept positions in a regional area," Mr Clune said.

"We're getting growth in education and health, and the general economy just seems to be bubbling along here."

Mr Clune said the beach lifestyle and consistent weather was another selling point for young people.

Plans to expand the local hospital, mining opportunities and $100 million set to be granted to development and building applications are all signs that the population growth is supported, and set to hold strong into the future.

"Things are happening on every level," Mr Clune said.

However housing is still the number one issue hindering greater population growth.

Mr Clune said they were working to address these issues, as well as ironing out issues around traffic management, education and healthcare services.

Northam had a 50 per cent increase in net capital-regional migration over the past year, and in the same period, Albany had a growth of 118pc.

The report also recognised Toodyay as being a notable growth hotspot for WA.

Chris Antonio, Northam shire president, said the town's growth could be attributed to many things - one being the proximity to Perth as well as being a gateway to the Wheatbelt.

Mr Antonio said in the past people would travel to Midland for shopping and services, but as Northam grew, they realised they didn't need to travel as far.

"The tipping point for our retail was having Bunnings and Aldi," Mr Antonio said.

He said the pandemic and regional travel restrictions helped people from nearby towns to "rediscover Northam".

"All the people in the Wheatbelt who bypassed Northam before, realised they can do most things here, we probably kept 50pc of the people who rediscovered Northam," Mr Antonio said.

"We've got all the services, schooling, medical services, major accountants and banks.

"And on the other side, it's the lifestyle, you can have a bit of space, a lot of people are moving to acreage," he said.

Developing Northam to this point has been more than 10 years in the making, Mr Antonio said, with projects such as the aquatic centre and a youth precinct contributing to overall growth.

Like Geraldton, Northam's growth is expected to snowball into the future, with huge interest from the private development sector.

Now the focus is to compensate for the growth.

"Housing is by far the biggest problem for us just like everywhere else," Mr Antonio said.

"Aged care, short-term accommodation, affordable housing, land development, land costs, are all part of the greater issue around housing."

The age demographics showed that millennials were making capital-regional migrations at far greater rates, making up 4-6pc of movers compared to gen alpha, gen x and baby boomers, who made up less than 2pc of the share of movers.

Mr Antonio said he was excited to have young people moving into regional and rural areas, introducing their fresh ideas and businesses to town.

An example of this is Eclipse Brewing Co, a microbrewery owned by "a bunch of mates", which is set to be located on Peel Terrace by the end of the year.

"The local kids are coming back and bringing their ideas back to town," Mr Antonio said.

The first quarter of 2024 was the first time the Shire of Capel had made it into the top ranks of the Regional Movers Index.

Capel Shire chief executive officer, Gordon MacMile said for a long time, residents in regional areas were moving to live in the city, however after COVID, migration began flowing the other way.

He said growth at Dalyellup had been on the rise since 2008, but in recent years other suburbs had picked up.

One of the biggest draw cards to the Shire was the diversity in offerings in terms of housing and employment opportunities.

Its proximity to the coast, as well as both Bunbury, Busselton, mining, agriculture and forestry industries attracted a wide audience.

"We're in the middle of Bunbury and Busselton, which provides the opportunity to have city employment without needing to live in it," Mr MacMile said.

"You can travel in either direction for 20 minutes and have access to schools, shops and hospitals.

"We're fortunate that we're really close to all of those things but not directly in it," he said.

One of the things that has made a substantial difference to the towns' offerings is the Busselton Airport.

"For people wanting to work in the mines, the availability of working for major mining companies, being able to live in the South West and work in the Pilbara is just growing every day," Mr MacMile said.

Now with a population nearing 20,000 people, Mr MacMile said there were some growing pains, particularly between residents who have lived in the area for decades and desire a quiet, sleepy town, while others, previously from metropolitan areas, have greater expectations around amenities and services.

"There's a challenge for the Shire to be able to afford the expectations of the community, as well as keeping up with that growth," he said.

"It means more roads, footpaths, drainage - everything."

Capel also has a lot of appeal culturally, with high rates of volunteerism, a strong sense of community spirit and about 30 countries represented by residents in the community.

The construction of housing was a challenge, but more so was the availability of land.

To overcome time constraints around housing, Mr MacMile said there was an uptick in building with prefabricated homes on rural and lifestyle blocks.

"We have land available, but it's not serviced with some essential infrastructure, such as sewerage," Mr MacMile said.

"We're seeking funding from the State government at the moment to provide services to our future residential land so that we can unlock it.

"There's a real limited availability of residential land in the Bunbury Geographe area at the moment, and Capel is no different."