Bernard Salt AM has told a room full of media buyers in Sydney that Bondi, Newtown and Manly are decidedly passé and that the smart money (and media buying) is moving to regional areas, with Kiama his prime target in New South Wales.
Similarly, Victorian media buyers should be focusing less on Richmond, St Kilda and Maribyrnong and turning their attentions eastwards to regional towns such as Warragul.
Speaking at an event hosted by Boomtown, the Australian columnist and demographer said that regional areas would experience a “surge in population growth and consumer spending” as the millennial generation. The much-maligned millennials, currently aged between 25-42, he explained will be entering the “peak income earning stage” of their life and looking for a “forever home”.
And with capital city house prices anywhere between 25-50 per cent higher than in the regions, the millennials would be upping sticks and decamping in their droves to the regions — just as previous generations have.
“What can you say is a common denominator between all the generations that drives Australians? I say it is the relentless, obsession pursuit of lifestyle and quality of life and we’ve done that for 100 years,” Salt explained.
However, what makes the millennial generation different is their ability to work from home, job sharing and, in Salt’s view, a “different aperture to how you deliver workplace value.”
In the next 10 years, Salt said he expects at least one million people to move to the regions. The Gold Coast’s population would rise by some 60,000, Newcastle’s by more than 50,000 and the Sunshine Coast’s by as much as 86,000.
This millennial flight consists of consumers in their prime buying era — needing houses and family cars and with a lust for cafes and metropolitan restaurants — it makes complete sense for media buyers to be targeting this generation.
Rather than spending in Melbourne proper, Salt suggested that buyers turn their attention to Warragul.
“For 150 years, Melbourne pushed east out to the Maroonda Highway and the Dandenong Ranges… What happened in 1998 with the opening of the Western Ring Road, Melbourne pushed to the west through Melton, Werribee and spilling into Geelong, which is now the fastest growing town outside of the capital city,” said Salt.
“If it’s not Geelong, it’s this little place here, Warragul. About 50,00 people, four per cent per year [growth] and about seven per cent of its workforce are tradies. If you were to go to Warragul at seven o’clock in the morning, you would find a convoy of Ford Ranger utes heading back into town to work on building and construction projects and they’d be paying half the property price.”
Warragul, for Salt, is a prime example of this lifestyle zone so attractive to Millennials being around two hours drive from Melbourne CBD.
In New South Wales, Salt predicts that millennials would be moving to Kiama — just south of Wollongong and Port Kembla. In fact, he reckons its set to be the best spot for growth in the whole of the country.
“I used the census and a whole range of indicators — skills, training, employment to identify the best town in Australia. It came out to be Kiama. It has exactly the right metrics.”
