Buying a first home is still a huge motivating factor for Australian property buyers, though they could be setting their sights on new locations in the search for affordability, new research suggests.
Asked why they were buying a property, 78 per cent of respondents indicated it was because they wanted to purchase their first home, according to research conducted by realestateview.com.au in conjunction with ACM's research arm Chi Squared.
The survey revealed a first-home buyers made up a higher proportion of purchasers in the regions than in metropolitan areas, according to Chi Squared Research Director, Alex Mihalovich.
"There's a lot more first time buyers buying in regional Australia than we are seeing in the metro. What we suspect is happening is that first time buyers because they're being priced out of the market in the metro, that they're moving to the regions," Mr Mihalovich said.
"They're saying 'Well, I need my first home so I'd rather buy it in regional Australia because a three-bedroom home in the city might cost me $1.5 million, whereas a three bedroom home in the country will cost me $500,000."
The median house price across all of Australia's capital cities is currently $869,604, according to CoreLogic, compared to $598,803 in regional areas.
In larger cities like Sydney and Melbourne the median house price is even higher, at $1,243,126 in Sydney and $915,005 in Melbourne.
While there were signs the regional migration trend was slowing down, Mr Mihalovich said that continuing unaffordability in the capital cities would make a compelling case for first-time buyers to consider the regions.
"I think that the migration issue is going to be a big factor in terms of continuing to drive up first time buyers in regional Australia."
