The great rush northwards to the sunshine and beaches of Queensland may finally be coming to an end as the state’s property market becomes too expensive and Australians start to rediscover the joys of Melbourne.
New figures reveal that for the first time since the COVID pandemic, more people are heading to Victoria than leaving the garden state, with Melbourne attracting its largest influx of interstate migrants in six years.
Queensland is starting to lose its shine among interstate migrants, with the number of Australians heading to the sunshine state falling to a nine-year low.Credit: Andrew Taylor
Queensland, with its relatively cheap property, has been a destination for many NSW and Victorian residents for decades. This accelerated during the pandemic.
Over the past five years, Queensland added almost 500,000 residents, of which 167,400 came from other parts of the country. By contrast, Victoria added 436,000 people but lost 81,690 to other states and territories, while NSW added 467,200 residents in total while losing a net 153,470 to the rest of the country.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, however, shows that while people continue to leave NSW, there has been a turnaround in the attractiveness of both Victoria and Queensland.
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Through the first three months of the year, a net 4238 people moved to Queensland from other parts of the country. It was the smallest quarterly result since 2016.
Victoria recorded a net influx of 440 interstate migrants, the first positive quarter since the end of 2019.
Melbourne itself drew a net 940 people moving from other states and territories. Brisbane’s net interstate migration fell below 2000 for the first time since COVID.
