Victoria’s capital had net losses of 4200 people to the rest of the state and 4200 interstate, mostly to Queensland, according to the Australia Bureau of Statistics. It is the highest quarterly net loss of people for Melbourne since the bureau started recording data in 2001.
The COVID-19 spike in relocations to the regions is now a trend, with 43,000 Australians moving from capital cities in 2020.
ABS director of demography Phil Browning said there was a net internal migration gain for regional areas.
“There are still many residential moves occurring within Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
“In the 2020 calendar year, 233,100 people arrived to live in regional areas and 190,200 people departed for the capitals. This resulted in a net gain of 43,000 people for the regions, up from 18,900 in 2019.”
The regional areas of Victoria gained 13,400 people in 2020, a shift that has also helped drive up property prices and demand for residential homes and land.
In net terms, Victoria did not gain people from any state or territory in 2020 and lost most to Queensland (4300).
Broken down by age, the overwhelming majority of tree changers are aged 45 to 65.
Young people continue to act as a counterbalance to population flows to the regions, making up the majority of those heading to the big smoke for work or study.
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