Regional centres attract buyers but young Aussies share property price woes

The annual Heartbeat of Australia study, which captures the sentiment of more than 7000 regional and metropolitan Australians, found that affordable housing was a persistent issue for Millennials and Generation Z.

This was followed by concerns over economic conditions and high interest rates.

The survey found older Australians were more likely to be concerned with broader social issues, with crime topping the list.

ACM national property news director Jen Melocco said strong regional price growth was making it more difficult for first-home buyers to enter the market.

"While property prices are not as high as capital cities, property price growth has been stronger in regional Australia overall and that is putting significant pressure on first home buyers and those looking to enter the market," Ms Melocco said.

"This is a concern for those looking to achieve the great Australian dream of home ownership, along with older generations who see the significant challenges for their children and grandchildren in the housing market today," she said.

"There is also the added pressure for those in regional Australia, who are now seeing those priced out of capital cities competing with them in their home towns."

Providing a detailed snapshot of Australian anxieties in 2025, the fourth annual study was jointly conducted by the University of Canberra and Australian Regional Insights, which is the research arm of this masthead's publisher, ACM.

While entering the property market was tough for younger Australians across the country, the difficulty was felt more keenly by those living in capital cities, the survey found.

One respondent, a Millennial living in Perth, said that half of her wage already goes to rent, and that the cost of living was "extremely stressful".

But these challenges were also felt outside of the big cities.

Expressing a desire to own a property within her local community one day, a regional Generation Z resident from NSW said it "seems more and more out of reach as time goes on".

The survey found that Australia's youngest prospective homeowners were the most concerned with the cost of borrowing.

READ MORE: The many challenges facing first home buyers in Australia

Almost two-thirds of Generation Z respondents cited interest rates as a major concern, a figure that dropped sharply to 38 per cent for Baby Boomers.

The survey noted an overall reduction in concern about interest rates, reflecting a decline in consumer rates, with the Reserve Bank's cash rate moving from 4.35 per cent in June 2024 to 3.85 per cent in June 2025.

The struggle for affordable properties was not going unnoticed by older generations, as extended families seeking to stay in the same community were also worried about high property prices.

One regional Generation X survey respondent said that she was concerned that her children "can't afford to buy a home in their local area".

While younger Australians focused on financial and housing issues, older cohorts were more concerned about broader community safety and societal concerns.

For older Australians, crime was a major issue.

Family violence was top-of-mind for Baby Boomers and the Builders generation.

A male Baby Boomer from the regional ACT was alarmed by the prevalence of family violence, saying, "Women are dying at a rate of about one a week. This is appalling and needs governmental action at the federal, state and local levels."

Another Baby Boomer respondent from regional ACT said that the ongoing effects of crime were a concern.

"The effect on children and the community is not insignificant. From this flows homelessness, poverty, adult and child PTSD issues," she said.

One issue that consistently affected Australians across all age groups and locations was the cost of living.

The struggle to make ends meet was highlighted by one Generation X survey respondent from the ACT who noted the difficulty even for dual-income households.

Despite the cost-of-living pinch, the study found that regional respondents were generally less concerned about health, debt, and employment compared to their counterparts in capital cities.

Only one-third of regional respondents had concerns about financial debt, compared to 37 per cent of capital city respondents.

And only 26 per cent of regional respondents were concerned about their job prospects, significantly lower than the 37 per cent of capital city respondents.

People living in the country were also around 7 per cent less likely than city-dwellers to be concerned about their physical or mental health.

The findings revealed a growing financial divide, where escaping to the regions offered young people a greater sense of security with job opportunities and debt, even as the overall cost of living remained a concern across the country.