In a case of what goes up must come down, property prices in Byron Bay have plunged 25 per cent in the past 12 months as interest rate hikes start to bite and tree and sea changers move back to the city.
After experiencing staggering price growth during COVID, the New South Wales Richmond-Tweed area, which takes in Byron, is now the worst performing regional market according to CoreLogic data, with house values falling by an average of 18.6 per cent.
But in what's been described as a "unique downturn", the neighbouring New England and North West areas recorded an increase in prices in the 12 months to January, just behind South Australia's South East where house values rose the most.
So what are some key takeouts from this latest snapshot of housing in regional Australia?
South Australia
Bucking the general downward trend, South Australia's South East was the best performing regional market with Kangaroo Island, the Fleurieu Peninsula and the Limestone Coast recording a 15.7 per cent increase in house values.
The median value of a home in the South East is now $426,903 and properties are spending on average 36 days on the market, compared to 38 days this time last year.
CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said property prices barely grew in those parts of SA before COVID emboldened people to move away from capital cities such as Adelaide.
"The COVID-boom unlocked enormous value across more affordable regional tree-change markets such as South Australia's South East region," she said.
"The surge in demand for areas such as New England and North West (in NSW) was also likely to have been due to a spill over from nearby markets such as Richmond-Tweed, where the strong migratory sea-change trend and low interest rates priced out many lower income households."
New South Wales
The New South Wales New England and North West regions also performed strongly in the 12 months to January, recording annual price growth of 11.5 per cent.
The median house price is $411,352 and houses are taking about 47 days to sell, compared with 43 days this time last year.
It's a different story further north in Richmond-Tweed, a so-called "lifestyle market", where house values fell by 18.6 per cent and took on average 71 days to sell.
Ms Owen described this as a price adjustment, off the back of interest rate rises, after "exorbitant" growth during COVID.
"This was the region where values skyrocketed, with houses increasing more than 50% during COVID, taking the median house value to more than $1.1 million," she said.
"Since then much has changed with borders reopening, outbound travel returning, workers returning to the office not to mention the overlay of nine rate rises.
"It's been a swift and significant shift."
South of Sydney, the Illawarra region was the next worst performing market behind Richmond-Tweed, recording a fall of 12.6 per cent but that's after a 44 per cent surge in prices during the pandemic.
Queensland
A lot of houses are being sold — and quickly — in the sunshine state.
The highest volume of houses sold was in Townsville, where sales were up 8.3 per cent and Central Queensland which recorded a 3.4 per cent increase in sales.
Toowoomba recorded the second fastest sales time in regional Australia with houses on the market for an average of 28 days, up from 10 days this time last year.
House values rose 7.8 per cent in Toowoomba where the median price is now $577,034.
Western Australia
Houses sold the fastest in Bunbury, south of Perth, where properties spent an average of 24 days on the market before being snapped up.
This indicates very strong demand for housing in the south-west region which recorded a 5.4 per increase in value, taking the median price to $513,004.
Overall, houses from Albany in the south of Western Australia to Carnarvon in the north either held their value or grew in the 12 months to January.
Victoria
Conversely, property values fell across regional Victoria.
Prices were down 7.2 per cent in Geelong, 7.9 per cent in Ballarat and 3.9 per cent in La Trobe-Gippsland where houses took, on average, 52 days to sell compared with 22 days this time last year.
Ms Owen said overall, house values were starting to decline in regional Australia but because demand remained strong, that decline was not as sharp as it had been in capital city markets.
But she cautioned 2023 would be an "interesting test" for the property market with buyers' borrowing capacity falling dramatically and many homeowners on fixed term mortgages yet to feel the impact of consecutive interest rate hikes.
"This is going to really rock the market, whether it is regional capital, city values, it's going to have an impact," she said.
