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Sydneysiders are starting to realise their money goes a whole lot further in Queensland's property market

  • Australians are flocking to Queensland at the fastest pace in over a decade, especially from New South Wales.

  • Net interstate migration between NSW to Queensland has doubled over the past few years.

  • Housing affordability, or lack thereof when it comes to NSW, likely explains the sudden lift in people moving north.


Australians are flocking to Queensland at the fastest pace in over a decade, especially from New South Wales.

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According to population data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), net interstate migration from New South Wales to Queensland rose to 15,100 in the 12 months to March, accounting for nearly two-thirds of total net interstate migration to the sunshine state over this period.

As seen in the chart below from Macquarie Bank, the number of people moving from NSW to Queensland is now around double what it was just a few years ago, and appears to be accelerating.

But why?

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This next chart from Macquarie may help to explain why: housing affordability.

It shows the ratio of Sydney to Brisbane home prices overlaid against annual net interstate migration flows between NSW and Queensland over the past three decades.

Clearly, when Sydney property prices become comparatively more expensive compared to Brisbane, it tends to encourage those in NSW to head north.

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"It might have taken longer this time around but the relative affordability of housing between Sydney and Brisbane is playing a role in the migration north," Macquarie says.

And while the ratio of Sydney to Brisbane home prices is now starting to fall, largely reflecting that those in the former have been falling for a year while those in the latter have risen modestly over the same period, recent migratory trends between the two states are likely to continue for some time yet given the relative gap in valuations still remains quite high.