Developers, local government and community advocates say the Riverland needs to take advantage of growth opportunities to increase its population.
In last year's census, the population of the Riverland was 31,933 — less than the 2001 population of 32,789.
The trend of residents leaving has prompted the region's local governments to try and attract people to the region to fill job vacancies and encourage more services to be established.
In Renmark, the region's largest town, plans are progressing for a 780-home expansion of the existing Jane Eliza housing development.
The Renmark Paringa Council will partner with national developer Wel.Co to deliver the project, which it hopes will address surging demand for housing.
Co managing director Andrew Welsh said there was growing confidence from developers to invest in regional housing projects.
"We're expecting these areas to grow and attract people from a broader area to come and relocate to places like Renmark," he said.
"There are numerous job opportunities, there's a fabulous lifestyle right on the river and it's a really affordable place to live compared to some of the other areas that have seen significant price growth.
"We're certainly seeing it in the South Australian market, as well as in Victoria and South East Queensland, areas that haven't seen much growth for a long period time are seeing an acceleration in population expansion."
Old farms to new homes
The Berri Barmera Council has released a growth strategy that outlines how it will increase its population by 2,500 people within 20 years.
It includes building 1,700 new homes and creating 1,800 new jobs, mainly by repurposing disused horticulture land for housing development.
Mayor Peter Hunt said the council could not afford to keep losing residents.
"Housing is the one thing now that everybody would like to see happen and it's not only our council — it's the whole Riverland, but the problem is we don't have the land available," he said.
Mr Hunt said the region had been hit hard by the closures of large businesses in the past, which resulted in residents leaving for work.
"We lost Riverland Fruit Products, Berri fruit juices and a number of trucking businesses, so now we need to try and regenerate and get some of those types of businesses back," he said.
"It could go either way — we could have another big drought and then we're back to the drawing board, but if we look at it that way we'll never get anywhere."
Regional Development Australia Riverland and Murraylands chief executive Ben Fee said the region needed more residents to fill jobs already available.
"We were seeing, every month, 350 to 400 jobs advertised over the past year or so, but over the past month that's doubled," he said.
"The most sought-after jobs have changed in the past couple of years from focusing on agriculture, but health and social assistance is topping it consistently now."
