Data shows that Australians are already on the move. Sales volumes in regional Australia surged 20% in 2020, a new report by property-selling website www.realestate.com.au has shown, external. This was double the growth seen in the state capitals, and the study said that Covid-19 was “driving a lifestyle shift”.

A separate report said that in the 12 months to the end of January house prices across regional Australia surged by 40%, “more than three times the pace of capital cities”, external.

“The areas with the largest increases in sales over the past year were dominated by regional markets and outer capital city areas,” says Cameron Kusher, director of economic research at REA Group, which owns realestate.com.au.

“This highlights a shift in population – perhaps driven by the prevalence of working from home and lifestyle changes.”

Nathan Stribley, a city planner at business consultancy Urbis, says that coronavirus has “turbocharged” exciting trends in Australia.

“Working from home was something that was happening pre-Covid, but there’s no doubt that the impact of Covid, and the restrictions on accessing CBDs [central business districts] and getting to work, has been a revolution in terms of the number of businesses that have moved to the technological enablement of offsite work,” he says.

“That greater flexibility has freed people up to make decisions about where they want to locate, how often they need to be in the office, and how far they’re willing to commute.”

This line of thinking applied to Brooke Moyle, a creative producer and stylist, who recently uprooted her life in inner Sydney, and moved with her husband and young daughter to Newcastle – a smaller coastal city two hours’ drive away.