A growing number of fed-up residents are deciding to ditch overpriced Sydney for good amid the city’s worsening housing crisis.
Figures show 129,000 residents have left New South Wales for another state since in the year to 2022.
With 83,000 new arrivals from interstate, Australian Bureau of Statistic data shows NSW experienced a net loss of almost 38,000.
Sydney’s median house prices stand at $1.23million, putting them beyond the reach of even above-average income earners and forcing many to live a long way from the city centre.
Meanwhile, Sydney has overtaken Canberra as the most expensive city to rent in Australia, with a median of $699 per week in the past quarter.
Jennetta Quinn-Bates (pictured) announced she was leaving Sydney for good because she was not going to pay someone elses mortgage for rent
Soaring rents have prompted a growing number of Sydneysiders to start a new life in other states, with many deciding to settle in sunny Queensland.
After living in Sydney her entire life, Lilly, 26, finally grew tired of its exorbitant prices and decided to up and move to Brisbane in 2018.
She told Daily Mail Australia that since then, she has never looked back and doesn’t see herself moving back to Sydney anytime soon.
Figures show 129,000 residents have left New South Wales for another state since in the year to 2022 (pictured is Sydney Harbour)
After living in Sydney her whole life, Lilly, 26, decided to move to Brisbane in 2018. She was able to purchase a property after just three years after having ‘no money’ in Sydney
Lilly had been paying $550 a week to live in a unit in Alexandria, in Sydney’s inner south, while working for a PR company in Potts Point.
It took her an hour each day to commute to and from work, where she noticed the environment was becoming increasingly competitive and stressful.
‘The cost of living became unsustainable,’ she recalled.
Lilly knew she wanted to live somewhere warmer and moved to Brisbane, where she knew life would be more affordable.
Upon landing, she noticed an immediate change in her mood. Strangers smiled and said hello on the street – something she had ‘never’ experienced in Sydney.
Lilly decided to split the rent for a $450-a-week two-bedroom apartment in the CBD, in a complex that boasted three pools, a gym and a rec room.
In 2021, Lilly moved to a one-bedroom apartment, where she paid just $320 a week.
When the owners put the unit up for sale, Lilly, who was 25 at the time, realised she could afford the deposit for the property, which was listed for $340,000.
She decided to put an offer in, and it was accepted.
‘Leaving Sydney, I never thought I would own,’ she said.
Living in Brisbane for three years had allowed her to save the funds. In comparison, when she was living in Sydney she never seemed to have ‘any money’.
A growing number of Sydneysiders are deciding to move interstate to Brisbane, where residents say property is more affordable and there is a better work-life balance
Lilly believes Brisbane has a lot of perks, including good jobs, warmer weather and a better work-life balance.
She added that people were generally friendlier and more relaxed and that work environments tended to be less stressful and competitive.
However, public transport wasn’t as good as in Sydney, with people usually needing to drive, take Ubers or walk to their destination.
The 27-year-old admitted she could understand why people called Brisbane a ‘big country town’ and joked that ‘everyone knows everyone’.
‘I think Brisbane is a slept-on city,’ she said.
‘We’re becoming more of a key player, especially with the Olympics coming up. My advice for people thinking about moving would be to visit first.
‘You’ll be pleasantly surprised at what it’s actually like.’
Lilly added that Brisbane, like everywhere in Australia, had been impacted by the rising cost of living but that her city was generally more affordable.
‘You actually able to spend the money you’re making here,’ she said.
Lilly, who moved to Brisbane from Sydney in 2018, said the city was becoming a ‘key player’ in the lead-up to the 2032 Olympics (pictured is Burleigh Beach in the Gold Coast)
NITV Jennetta Quinn-Bates announced she was leaving Sydney for good on Twitter last week as rents continue to soar.
She said she was sick of paying someone else’s mortgage.
‘I’m not paying a mortgage for rent.’
Ms Quinn-Bates said a number of people in her building had been hit with rent increases from $100 to $400 with just three months’ notice.
‘So many people in my building have moved out or been hit with $100-400 p[er week rent increases. Landlords are just giving three months’ notice so they can up everything,’ she explained.
‘I’m going to miss Sydney. I’ve loved it here in Potts Point! But, I am really disheartened by the way people are being treated, people of all ages, the young, the elderly and in between,’ she explained.
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‘It’s really sad. Sorry to anyone whose had these experiences since it became a landlords world,’ she wrote.
Dr Tony Matthews, a Brisbane-based senior lecturer in urban planning from Griffith University, told Daily Mail Australia that while international migrants usually settled in NSW and Victoria, domestic migrants usually moved interstate to Queensland.
He said the government had been responding to ‘enormous population pressures’ for 50 years and planned to build thousands of new homes across the state.
Moreton Bay, north of Brisbane’s CBD, is one of the areas being heavily developed as Aussies look to secure ‘affordable coastal living’.
‘Historically, it has been older people who sell up down south and move to Queensland where they can be mortgage free at 50, enjoy less commuting, less stress and better weather,’ Dr Matthews explained.
‘It’s now more of a mixed bag.’
Young professionals from NSW and Victoria used the pandemic as an opportunity to set up a new life in Queensland – where they could work remotely stress-free (pictured is Bondi Beach)
Dr Matthews said the pandemic had normalised remote working, with a lot of young professionals using Covid as an opportunity to move their family interstate.
He said many professionals would keep their role in Sydney and Melbourne while living in Queensland for several years before deciding to stay or return south.
For international migrants, NSW and Victoria were always going to be the first choice as those states offered diverse economies and better opportunities to study, he said.
But for those who have spent their lives in southern states, Queensland offers cheaper housing, milder weather and, most importantly a change in pace.
‘It’s people living in very modest houses in Sydney getting much better deals in Brisbane for the same price and getting better weather for free,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘If you find yourself living way out in western Sydney, because that’s where you can afford to live and then needing to work in the CBD and commuting for an hour and a half or two hours each way every day, that’s extremely bad for your health.’
However, Dr Matthews said southeast Queensland’s perceived ‘affordability’ was not the reality for many tenants.
An increasing number of people are moving further up the coast into more affordable regions like Bundaberg and Townsville.
‘You have to go more regional unless you have seven figures,’ he said.
‘It’s very hard these days to get ‘affordable coastal’.’
New Sydney resident describes the city as boring in a scathing post unleashing on the Harbor City
A new Sydney resident has unleashed about the city in a scathing Reddit post.
‘I’ve been living here 14 months – I’m so bored,’ they wrote.
‘You don’t know what 24 hours is, not for groceries, fast food, anything other than gyms.
‘Let me tell you. The weather does NOT make up for this. Don’t even bother with the “wake up early and you’ll be fine”. Right, because that’s how international cities work.
‘I’m sick of this expensive, boring place. How does any proud Sydney-sider hold their heads up at this boring nonsense?’
However, many Sydneysiders quickly jumped to the defence of their Harbor City.
Sydney’s pitfalls have been highlighted by hundreds of Aussies in a recent Reddit post
One wrote: ‘Most Sydneysiders are more than happy to acknowledge the (long list) of problems with our city.
‘BUT there are also 1000 amazing things about Sydney that keep us here. And we’ve decided the good outweighs the bad.
Another said: ‘Only boring people get bored, and that’s just a fact. I’ve travelled to many cities across the world, and nothing beats Sydney for me.
‘Find different ways to entertain yourself. There is plenty to do here, and you would be a fool to disagree.’
However, another local agreed with the new residents’ comments about the city being boring.
‘Sydney is a boring sh*thole most of the time. I’m a shift worker with erratic hours, and it’s SO much easier to do almost anything overseas in the middle of the night compared to Sydney.
‘We’ve got next to no late night/all night shopping, chemists, entertainment, groceries.
‘Unless you count Mcdonald’s drive-through and slapping 50s in the VIP room at the local pub, there’s nothing open overnight.’
Many Sydneysiders complained about the lack of nightlife in the city
Another Sydneysider said: ‘I am a Sydneysider. Whenever someone from overseas asks me about Australia my response is always this: It’s a fantastic place to live. We have great healthcare. Clean, good job prospects.
‘But if you want excitement it’s not the place for you. I actually discourage people who want to come here for excitement.
‘If you want excitement it’s the wrong country for that. If you just want a nice place to raise a family. Welcome to Australia. You will love it.’
