WA real estate: Why Perth residents are ditching the city for life in sleepy Boddington

Boddington may have a population of less than 2000 but it’s not stopping a huge influx of Perth residents from trading in capital city life for a slower pace in the sleepy community. The latest Regional Movers Index — a partnership between the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the Regional Australia Institute — has analysed the quarterly and annual trends in people moving to and from Australia’s regional areas and it is the unlikely towns of Boddington and Northam that have experienced the highest surges in net internal migration in WA. RAI chief executive Liz Ritchie said that in the past 12 months, the Shire of Boddington had a 219 per cent increase in net internal migration — with more than 70 per cent of the movers made up of millennials and Gen Xers and almost all of those relocating to the area from Perth. “Meanwhile, in Northam, there has been an almost 93 per cent increase in net capital to regional migration. Metro movers have developed a definite sweet spot for regions in the west,” Ms Ritchie said. Tenneille Schwarz relocated from Kwinana to the Peel region town with her husband and two young children after realising it was a great place to raise a family. “We moved from Brisbane to Kwinana and then we found Boddington. My husband got a really good job opportunity while still living in Kwinana but it meant less family time, because the travel was quite extensive,” she said. “So we came out for his work Christmas party not even looking to live here and then we just fell in love.” “We saw this house pop up and we just knew that this is where we wanted to raise our kids, so we bought it.” She said it could be a little isolating but it helped having Mandurah about an hour away. Mercer Bryant First National Real Estate sales consultant Toni Collins said the mining town was attracting a lot of retirees and young families wanting to get out of either Mandurah or Perth. “It’s because of our location; we’re only an hour from the coast and an hour from Perth. We’ve got great medical facilities here and a great school. We’ve got IGA and enough shops here that people don’t really have to go out of town if they don’t want to,” Ms Collins said. She also said buyers were getting more bang for their buck, with 600sqm blocks available for about $50,000. CBA regional and agribusiness banking executive general manager Paul Fowler said WA was experiencing a sustained period of demographic shift both from the Eastern States to the West and within the overall composition of Western Australia in terms of where people chose to live. “Western Australia is unique in the context of the national picture where we’re seeing growth in both capital city and regional WA migration trends so it is a really positive story for WA as a place for Australians to live, generally,” he said. “For every 100 people that move from the regions to the cities, we’ve got 125 people moving from the city to the region so that’s exciting for the regions, we think.” According to Mr Fowler, towns such as Boddington and Northam had great employment opportunities as well as more affordable living options. “There is also this overwhelming trend across the country, and again true of WA, around lifestyle options and recognising how amazing our regions are and what a great place it is to live and to work and to raise families,” he said.