‘Brain drain’ moving population from Perth to the regions as seachangers and ‘property refugees’ vacate

Country road take me home? That appears to be the 2025 reality with Perth seeing an exodus of people moving for life in the regions, including sea-changers and a growing number of property refugees priced out of the city. While the ‘brain drain’ once led from country towns to capitals, national data now shows that more city slickers move to the regions than in reverse. A report compiled by the Regional Australia Institute and Commonwealth Bank revealed a 10.5 per cent increase in the city to country exodus this year alone. The Regional Movers Index shows that of all WA towns, Busselton drew the biggest share of total internal migration from Australian capital cities, at 1.3 per cent over the past year, followed by Augusta/Margaret River. Albany, Bunbury, Northam and Denmark also drew substantial portions of the nation’s city slickers who relocated during the period. But the biggest annual increase in WA was in Denmark, with a 259 per cent increase in the arrivals of city folk in the 12 months to March 2025 compared to the year before. Over 2024, Bunbury saw the biggest increase in the nation in the ‘flight to farm life’ trend, with a 388 per cent boost. Property agents across the regions claim “Perth property refugees” have been priced out of the city, but for Morgane Chehabi and husband Nathan Tucker, their move to Margaret River last year was a lifestyle change. Ms Chehabi said several members in her mothers’ surfing club had also moved from big cities like Perth or Sydney in recent years. She said she loved the lifestyle and had purchased a property close to the town so she could use a bike instead of a car. She had immersed herself in her art, and was soon to exhibit with other local artists. But while it sounds like she is living the dream, she warned it was not all smooth sailing. While her husband was able to get work locally as a construction manager and she worked remotely as an engineer, she said there were relatively few local jobs, and they also paid substantially less than city roles. She said she knew of some South West workers who had given up their well-paying remote jobs for local opportunities, even though they paid less, because they felt isolated without co-workers. Ray White property agent Gracia Fernandez said the sea-change trend was so pronounced that the lion’s share of her buyers were from Perth. “It’s mostly for the lifestyle, to be closer to the beach or the bush, or because they want to upsize to a bigger block,” she said. “We have a lot of cash buyers who sold very well in Perth and can get much better value for money down here.” Property agent Paulette Contessi said almost all of her buyers in Kalbarri were young Perth families priced out of the city. Big beachside blocks selling for $80,000 in Kalbarri offered them a lifestyle they could not afford in Perth.