The answers you need if you're considering a regional move

Swapping the suburbs for the sea or the city for the country continues to be a popular move for home buyers.

It’s a shift many have long dreamed of, and in today’s pandemic era, there is not a great deal holding people back.

With the skyscrapers in the rear vision mirror, a new community awaits where traffic is non-existent and the houses are much more affordable. 

If the savings weren’t enough, a major motivator is a COVID trend towards flexible working arrangements, which means a sea or tree change doesn’t mean giving up your job. 

A study by Swinburne University’s Centre for the New Workforce found that as a result of the pandemic, 38 per cent of workers want to split their time between working remotely and working from the office and 20 per cent of workers want to continue working from home entirely.

And with a severe shortage of skilled labour, many workplaces are happy to acquiesce to employees’ demands for better work-life balance.

So, it is with open arms that country towns across New South Wales are greeting newcomers escaping the hustle and bustle, many of whom are headed to new housing estates.

The trend is evident with Australia’s leading home builder, Metricon Homes, establishing house and land package sales in South Nowra, Cambewarra, St Georges Basin, Sussex Inlet, Orange, Dubbo, and the New England region encompassing Tamworth, Moore Creek and Armidale.

“It’s a quality of life decision,” said Ben Noyes, Metricon’s regional business manager for NSW and the ACT.

“Basically you’ve got the flexibility to pick a house to go on a block of land that suits you and your family. If you buy an established house you don’t always know what you’re actually buying. You can do a pest and building report, but it doesn’t show you what’s behind the walls and hidden costs.

“Whereas you can choose a brand new home, whether it’s with three or four bedrooms, whether it be two or three bathrooms, whether it be one or two living areas. If you’re an outdoor family, you can extend outdoor living areas.”

Metricon’s display villages across regional NSW can commonly be found in greenfield estates centred on community amenities already in place or in the construction pipeline. It means house and land package buyers will be living near schools, shops or parks where they are likely to meet locals and make strong neighbourhood connections.

Tamworth’s Brittany Parker has seen her hometown swell with newcomers since 2020 when the full effect of COVID was taking a heavier toll on inner-city Sydney. 

She said the fresh injection of new residents had not only boosted the population but invigorated business and sporting communities.

“The new people have brought new businesses, fresh blood,” he said.

“We’ve had different restaurants open and my sons play footy and the coach has come from Sydney, so we’ve even got that fresh perspective to up the ante with sports.”

In addition to its attractive housing prices, Parker said Tamworth, which is a five-hour drive north of Sydney, was an idyllic place for families.

“It’s a really good place to raise kids,” she said. “It’s small enough to have that small-town vibe, but it’s got enough. You’ve got all the specialists, a hospital, shops and everything you need.”

It’s also worth considering that first-home buyers who choose to purchase a house and land package in regional NSW may be eligible for cash grants or concessions on the cost of transfer duty when they buy a new home, too.