Tasmania's regional market in Launceston and North East reported the most substantial gains in unit values in July, according to the latest market report from CoreLogic.
Over the month, median unit values in the Launceston and North East region grew by 14.8% to $266,604.
The time it takes for units to get sold also improved, down to 26 days from 38 days during the same period last year. This makes it the fastest-selling region for units in July.
The positive unit growth and days-on-market figures came despite the 23.7% drop in unit sales activity in the region.
Regional markets held firm through the COVID-19 period compared with their capital city counterparts, according to Tim Lawless, head of research at CoreLogic. In fact, dwelling values across the combined regional areas of Australia slipped by only 0.1% over the March to July period, lower than the 2% decline reported by capital cities.
"While the region-by-region data show diversity, the relatively steady conditions across the regional markets of Australia can probably be attributed to factors such as less impact on housing demand from stalling overseas migration," Lawless said.
Lawless said affordable prices and lower population densities make regional markets more appealing for buyers amid the pandemic.
Outlook for Tasmania
A separate report from the Housing Industry Association (HIA) showed that Tasmania was able to weather the early stages of the recession due to the volume of building work that was in the pipeline prior to the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Stuart Collins, regional director at HIA, said the HomeBuilder scheme will help support demand for homes across the state, particularly in the detached housing segment.
"Tasmania's detached building boom was still relatively young compared to the booms in New South Wales and Victoria. This means that there is still underlying demand to support construction workforces and economic activity more broadly," he said.
However, dwelling starts in Tasmania are still expected to decline by 14.9% over the financial year 2020 to 2021.
"Even with this decline, Tasmania will still be operating at historically high levels of residential construction which is remarkable given the current challenges," Collins said.
