BASS Coast is the 21st most popular Local Government Area in Australia for city to regional migration trailing the Sunshine Coast (10%), Greater Geelong (8.5%) and Lake Macquarie (5%) in the top three positions and the likes of Moorabool (4.1%), Ballarat (2.5%) and Baw Baw (2%) in Victoria.

Bass Coast accepted 1.6% of the nation’s net internal migration in the December 2024 quarter, resulting in a 14.7% reduction in net inflow compared to the previous year

But the shire still came out ahead of other possible destinations for those looking to make a sea change or tree change including the Gold Coast 1.3%, East Gippsland 1.1%, Noosa 0.8% and Surf Coast 0.6%.

The figures were included in the latest Regional Movers Index developed by the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) in partnership with the Commonwealth Bank.

According to the report, fewer city dwellers moved to regional areas during the December 2024 quarter, reflecting the typical seasonal slowdown as people tend to stay put in the final months of the year.

The Regional Movers Index (RMI), which tracks migration from capital cities to regional areas, fell by 11 per cent over the three-month period. This was against a backdrop of internal migration falling by 11.7 per cent and lower across all categories – capital to capital, capital to regional, regional to capital, and regional to regional.

While seasonal factors commonly see the RMI decline in the December quarter, by an average of 6.5 per cent, it marks the steepest fall in the index since June 2022. Despite this decrease, the current RMI remains 8.3 per cent higher than the pre-COVID average and 3 per cent higher than a year ago.

Lower mobility across the board did little to curb the preference for a tree change over city living, with 32.2 per cent more people moving from capital cities to regional areas than back in the opposite direction.

As a result, migration from capitals to regions accounted for a larger share of all internal migration – at 11.4 per cent – up 0.1 percentage points on the previous quarter to its highest share since March 2024.

Meanwhile migration from regional areas to the capitals, accounts for an 8.6 per cent share. This marks the second-lowest share of regional to capital migration since COVID lockdowns were lifted three years ago, despite a 0.3 percentage point increase on the previous quarter.

City dwellers are increasingly flocking to regional New South Wales and regional Victoria, with the two south-eastern states accounting for 71 per cent of all net regional inflows in the December quarter 2024 – up from 66 per cent in the December quarter 2023.

In contrast, regional Queensland recorded a contraction in its share of net inflows in the latest December quarter to 19 per cent, down from 32 per cent in the December quarter 2023.