Over the last two years, along with the rest of the world, I have watched and taken part in a global Pandemic that not only significantly impacted the economic landscape for Australians but also our day-to-day living. We went from regular life to prisoners in our own homes in the blink of an eye. Time seemed to stand still. It’s interesting how introspective you become when the world just stops. Collectively, Australians began to really think about what was important to them, what they could learn to live with, and what they could not live without. I found myself contemplating a lot of big life decisions. The type that I had never really felt ‘grown-up’ enough to make, like purchasing a home with my partner.
We had been renting a charming cottage by the sea in the bayside suburb of Wynnum-Manly and had fallen in love with its relaxed coastal lifestyle - a stark juxtaposition to our busy city jobs and a real treat to come home to. We had dreamt of purchasing a home in the area. This would be our first house. However, we hesitated a fraction too long and were quickly priced out of the market.
Feeling deflated, I sought the advice of a local real estate professional. They said there had been a significant increase of interest from inner-city dwellers looking to get out and into the suburbs. It turns out I wasn’t the only one contemplating big life decisions. The lockdown of living caused by the pandemic had made people rethink their lifestyles. Especially those who could work from home. Property and land, and lifestyle in the suburbs were dictating buyers' purchasing decisions. What I didn't know at the time is that I was witnessing a micro property trend. It was as though the pandemic had created a new extrinsic value, a sentiment Australians now agreed upon.
Back to the drawing board. It was time to re-examine the dream. We agreed that we didn’t want to be in debt up to our eyeballs with a house that wasn't even close to what we had originally envisioned in a suburb no one wanted to visit. This quickly ruled out purchasing a home anywhere in Brisbane.
After a couple of weeks of brainstorming and research, we went back to our roots and looked into the property market in our home city of Townsville. Admittedly there were potential biases at play here, but the feelings it brought were serendipitous to our early days of living in Wynnum-Manly - it was uncanny. We found our dream home had been nestled in the foothills of Castle Hill all this time. We closed the deal on our first home in the suburb of West End and just like that we had resigned from our big-city jobs and were making the move back to our home city of Townsville.
Having lived in the state’s capital for the last 5 years, I was surprised to learn how refreshing it was to trade Brisbane's hustle and bustle for Townsville's infamous tropical (read humid) weather, and beautiful winters. Upon returning I realized how much I had undervalued my home city; from its history, natural beauty and relaxed lifestyle, not to mention the scope it has for future growth.
Fast forward to now, we have been back living in Townsville for the last 3 months. Brisbane’s property market has not stopped growing since their first lockdown ended, with the announcement of the city hosting the 2032 Summer Olympics only pushing property prices higher. The same sentiment has now definitely been felt in Townsville, with a lot of southern buyers catching on to what this small city has to offer. The same earlier observation of the micro-trend was only the beginning of what was to come in the form of a macro-trend. Queensland's ability to remain relatively free throughout the pandemic has created a lot of attention for itself with all regional cities/towns seeing similar behaviors.