![There's all sorts of problems trying to find somewhere to either buy or rent in regional Australia. There's all sorts of problems trying to find somewhere to either buy or rent in regional Australia.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/39XqhrgY6riNnQBs6VEtc8R/d5b5e453-6e34-427b-af98-a8ec17391471.jpg/r0_0_1890_983_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The lack of housing to either buy or rent has stalled population growth across regional Australia.
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Housing has become a major infrastructure problem which governments have been called on to help solve.
This single issue is seen as key to tackling the urban sprawl and comes at an optimum time with the high number of jobs available in regional areas plus the COVID-insured popularity of the bush from tree-changers.
The movement to the country has slowed because of this lack of housing but is still 30 per cent higher than before COVID-19 struck.
Millennials, people aged from 24-40 years, continue to make up the biggest proportion of people moving to the regions.
Three of the top five highest-growth local government areas in the year to June 2022 were in South Australia with young people making up the largest proportion of movers from cities.
The overall number of those relocating from metropolitan areas has fallen 16.5pc compared with the previous quarter, according to the latest quarterly Regional Movers Index made public by Commonwealth Bank and Regional Australia Institute.
The lack of available housing stock to buy and rising rents has made it more difficult for city people to move.
Victoria has called a regional housing summit to look for answers to the problem.
Leads across the government, community and business sectors will be brought together to discuss that state's growing regions and innovative ways to deliver affordable housing.
The Regional Affordable Housing Summit will be held in Creswick on October 4 to provide a forum for discussion, strengthening relationships and identifying challenges and opportunities to meet the needs of regional Victoria's burgeoning population.
The summit will also focus on unlocking more housing for workers and enabling local businesses to expand by hearing from civic leaders and partners working in regional Victoria about the challenges of affordable housing supply and economic growth.
The government will further outline its Affordable Housing Rental Scheme and plans to create more housing in regional Victoria.
Housing Minister Danny Pearson said: "It's a good thing that our regions are growing, but we recognize this surge in regional migration puts pressure on the supply of affordable housing."
"By building social and affordable housing in regional Victoria we're responding to the increasing population in Victoria's growth areas and creating more rental housing to support employment growth in regional towns and cities."