Regional renaissance to stay, but housing & workers Achilles' heel

The regions are now home to 9.6 million people, growing by 100,000 in 12 months, with millennials (25-39 years) leading the charge from the cities, according to a landmark report by the Regional Australia Institute.

In the past year, the regions have seen more residents gain a post school qualification (58.4 per cent), more childcare services open (up 5.2pc) and more people participating in the workforce (63.9pc), including medical professionals.

RAI chief executive Liz Ritchie said overall meaningful progress was underway to "re-balance the nation", but housing and growing the regional workforce needed urgent attention.

"These two targets are the clear areas of weaknesses despite the overall strength we are witnessing. It's the Achilles' heel of regional Australia," Ms Ritchie said.

"Regional employers across the country have been telling us that it's getting harder and harder to fill roles. Having the right homes to accommodate new staff is a critical factor and that is why we must look at these issues in unison."

The Regional Ambition report showed that although the regional rental vacancy rate increased from 1pc to 1.5pc - and is higher than capital cities (1.1pc) - monthly building approvals in the regions have declined.

Across the country, regional Western Australia recorded the largest drop in average monthly building approvals at 41.4pc, followed by regional Victoria at 38.4pc, with both regional Queensland and NSW recording a decrease of around 15pc.

In July, more than 90,000 roles were advertised in regional Australia, 2.7pc higher than a year ago, while adverts in metro areas dropped by 10pc.

"There are three ways to fill these roles: to see more people moving out of our capitals, educating talent from within and an uptick in international migration to the regions," Ms Ritchie said.

Despite the housing and workforce bottleneck, there were plenty of positives for the regions, with more overseas arrivals, more students completing high school, an increase in digital access, improved NAPLAN results for remote students, and an uptick in life satisfaction and wellbeing score.

"All indicators tell us that the regional renaissance is here to stay," Ms Ritchie said.

"Regional Australia is a sleeping giant, with the desire to perform. But we need to use the results of this first year progress report to ensure we can unleash its potential."