Blooming and booming: the top performing regional towns in 2025 for spring buyers

Australia's housing market is showing renewed vigour, with Cotality's latest Home Value Index revealing the strongest monthly growth in a year.

Buoyed by easing interest rates and persistently tight supply, home values are surging ahead of the spring selling season.

And while capital cities recently outpaced regional markets for the first time in nine months, there continue to be standout regional performers.

Cotality's national Home Value Index (HVI) rose 0.7 per cent in August, the strongest month-on-month gain since May last year.

The result pushed the annual change higher for the second month in a row, to 4.1 per cent.

According to the report, the growth cycle has been gradually building momentum since the February rate cut, with buyer demand spurred by a lift in borrowing capacity, real wages growth, rising confidence and what is likely to be a growing sense of urgency as advertised stock levels remain tight.

"Once again we are seeing a clear mismatch between available supply and demonstrated demand placing upwards pressure on housing values", said Cotality Australia's research director, Tim Lawless.

"The annual trend in estimated home sales is up two per cent on last year and tracking almost 4 per cent above the previous five-year average.

"At the same time, advertised supply levels remain about -20 per cent below average for this time of the year."

The regional outlook

The data shows that regional markets remain resilient, and buyers continue to look beyond capital cities for better value.

Combined regionals have seen a 0.5 per cent lift month-on-month (compared to 0.8 per cent for combined capitals).

Looking at annual change has the regions out ahead - combined regionals value is up 6 per cent, versus 3.6 per cent for the combined capitals.

Showing the greatest growth over the past year are regional WA (11.1 per cent), SA (10.9 per cent) and Queensland (8.5 per cent), blitzing their capital city counterparts.

Regional top performers in NSW and Victoria

The top regional zones with the highest 12-month value growth across all dwelling types have shown some impressive growth - with figures as high as 16.6 per cent in regional New South Wales.

The top NSW performer has been the Lower Murray region, which now has a median value of $355,012 - an annual change of 16.6 per cent.

Next is Tamworth-Gunnedah in the New England North West region, with an annual growth of 11.6 per cent and median value of $510,597.

Albury, another Murray region area, was the third top performer, with an annual value change of 10.5 per cent and a median of $599,217.

In fourth is the Upper Hunter of the Hunter Valley region, with an uptick of 9.2 per cent and rising to a median of $527,818.

The fifth best performer was Orange in the Central West, with an annual growth change of 9 per cent and now a median of $663,454.

These results highlight a mix of affordability-driven regions and strong agricultural and lifestyle centres that continue to attract buyers.

Victoria also saw solid annual growth, with Mildura in the North West leading the state, rising 15.5 per cent to a median of $488,302.

Bendigo saw an annual value jump of 7.8 per cent, with a median now sitting at $600,323.

Wodonga-Alpine in the Hume is up 6.1 per cent, with a median of $644,038, followed by the fourth best performer of the Grampians, up 5.8 per cent to a median of $335,939.

The fifth highest change was in Colac-Corangamite of the Warrnambool and South West region - up 5.6 per cent to a median of $540,236.

Many regional markets are showing sustained price momentum. Buyers are once again chasing value, lifestyle, and work-from-anywhere flexibility, while investors are looking to regions with strong rental returns and tight vacancy rates.