That's an interesting visual Yada....OO revealing self on national forum.
Regional Vic is -----whatever you want it to be.
I am sure there are thousands of stories from investors that:
1.Have done really well in regional Vic
2.Some that have not done so well
3.Some that have their "set" perception and will NEVER invest in regional Vic.
Etc...
-Growth per annum averaged out of a decade, (some areas of reg. vic) are similar to some areas of metro investing.
-There is not that greater variance in investing in some areas of regional vic than some of the "middle figure" areas of metro.
-Did you buy well? (Rhetorical).
-Bought into reg vic and created equity straight away? (Rhetorical).
Maybe someone bought and thought they bought well only to find-guess what, they did not. Thought, bought, should have...
But///
-Are you prepared to invest in areas where you may not be that familiar with?(Again rhetorical). Just want folk to know what they are chasing.
-What is your plan/approach to investing? Shorter term or longer term buy and hold.
-Are you a reno person, buy something do it up and hold or maybe sell.
You see how it can be anything you want it to be?
My story is I have some IP;'s in regional Vic areas.
I bought well, growth has happened, good rental returns, I really, really know my areas, inside out and back to front for the places I have built and bought.
I buy and build some more, I am holding, I am a buy and hold girl.
Down the road when I snap up a bit more of regional vic I intend in diversing, some business to stoke up cashflow, maybe some commercial because I too want to own a big shed.
The bigger regional vic cities are doing fine, have they been affected by a very interesting drought and global financial crisis, of course and in varying degrees.
Do these bigger regional vic cities act as catchment areas for outlying rural districts=yes. Do they generally speaking keep growing in solid rates of pop growth=yes. Could you pick out a figure that shows a shortterm possible decrease of growth=yes, but does it reflect the longterm figures=no.
One third, (or approx one third) of Victorians live in regional vic. That figure is not going to change soon, because one third of our state's population DO NOT want to live in mero area. For some of us it (Melbourne) is not something that floats our boats. For some of us we will always like wide open spaces, clear skies at night and strong sense of community spirit(s).
Our State is very beautiful, I happen to think Melbourne is beautiful and I also love regional Vic. Some people choose to invest in metro, some choose to invest in regional Vic.
I have chosen to invest in reg vic, so far so good. I do it at my own pace. I buy well.
Interesting sites to keep the finger on the pulse (cyberspace wise) are shire sites, statistic sites, google any of the cities you might be interested in, but the fun and real feel for a reg city is going to visit and trip around and talk to the people...it's great fun and a BIG learning curve.
The future is always that, the future and none of us have that magical ability to say: "A B C WILL happen" but from what has gone on before, it is most likely regional cities will continue to grow and prosper, they are "catchment" cities. As they grow, so does the need for infrastructure and housing, business diversifies, more schools, better Uni's...all that stuff.
Remember not everyone wants to live in Melbourne.
Hope that helps and as you can see it is such a really open ended type of scenario you query. Sort of.
