More Australians are choosing to move away from capital cities with nearly four moving to the regions for every three moving to the cities, a new index reveals.
The Regional Movers Index showed the number of people moving to regional areas was almost 30 per cent larger than those moving the other way in the first three months of the year.
The index, which draws on customer location data from the Commonwealth Bank, recorded its highest level as city-to-region moves made up 11.9 per cent of all internal Australian migration in the March quarter.
Regional Australia Institute chief executive Liz Ritchie said the index recorded its highest level of capital-to-regional movement.
"We're not just tracking movement but providing early indications of where regional growth is emerging, so government, investors, industry and communities can respond before pressure builds," Ms Ritchie said.
"It helps identify the places that are emerging as hotspots that may need new thinking around housing and infrastructure."
The index has tracked capital-to-regional moves since the COVID-19 pandemic and is produced in collaboration between the institute and the Commonwealth Bank.
Ms Ritchie said: "Australians are continuing to choose regional life in greater numbers, even as economic conditions shift. Across COVID, inflation, housing pressures and tight labour markets, the trend has been remarkably consistent - people are leaving capital cities for regions, and they're doing so at increasing rates."
The top five local government areas for internal migration were the Sunshine Coast, Greater Geelong, Fraser Coast, Moorabool (which includes the Victorian towns of Bacchus Marsh and Ballan), and Lake Macquarie.
Toowoomba, Broome, Townsville, Clarence Valley and Indigo recorded the highest annual growth in net capital-to-regional migration in the year to the March quarter.
Toowoomba, located 130 kilometres from Brisbane, recorded a 236.4 per cent increase in net inflows of residents from capital cities in the past year, the index report said.
"Indigo in north-eastern Victoria, home to Beechworth and Rutherglen, again featured in the top five, ranking fifth with 133.3 per cent growth after holding the top spot in the previous quarter," the report said.
Victoria's Central Goldfields and NSW's Bathurst were also identified as among the regional growth hotspots, but most of the newcomers were from other regional areas rather than capital cities.
NSW's Mid-Coast, home to Taree and Forster-Tuncurry, became the fifth-most popular area for capital-to-regional movers in the past year.
Kylie Allen, the Commonwealth Bank's executive general manager of regional and agribusiness banking, said the data showed Australians were making long-term, considered decisions to build their lives in regional communities.
"What stands out this quarter is the scale of movement we're seeing, both from capital cities and between regional communities. It reinforces the role that regional centres like Toowoomba play as important hubs, supporting surrounding towns through jobs, services and local business activity," Ms Allen said.
"For many regional businesses, this creates opportunities to respond to a larger and more diverse customer base. We're seeing that reflected in our business lending, with businesses investing to support larger populations and increased economic activity across their regions."
The index is compiled using data that shows when a Commonwealth Bank customer has updated their address after at least six months in a previous location and excludes moves within the same local government area.
The index report said the proportion of the bank's more than 14.6 million customers in each state as a percentage of its total customers was representative of the overall Australian population.
