Trevor Kop and Amanda Liversage are the new faces of Western Australia's regional and rural centres.
The couple is moving from Perth to Albany next month for a more relaxed lifestyle, cooler weather and to take advantage of the great outdoors.
They are part of a growing trend of people leaving the city and moving to big and small country towns, which are seeing unprecedented demand for housing - underpinning price spikes.
Mr Kop said he and Ms Liversage had always wanted to live down south and the opportunity had come up for Ms Liversage to work as a nurse at the Albany Health Campus.
His work for Western Power can be done remotely and via commuting.
"Albany offers a better climate than Perth, it is a great size town, there is regional hospital there, the beaches are stunning, we can go bushwalking and there is much less traffic than in Perth - with no traffic lights," Mr Kop said.
"Both of us have lived in remote places before, including Gippsland for me and Africa for Amanda, and had great experiences.
"You get connection to the community and it is a better feel than living in a big city."
Mr Kop said the initial plan was to move to a regional centre in WA's south when they retired.
But he said the job offer for Ms Liversage had bought that forward.
"It is great, as we can now get established and build our networks well before we retire," he said.
Mr Kop and Ms Liversage started looking for a house in Albany at Christmas and, although supplies were tight and there were not a lot of properties to inspect, they found a quirky 1950s character home.
"It is a very special house with a genuine 1950s kitchen," Mr Kop said.
"We wanted something that was a bit different architecturally.
"And the views over the harbour are amazing."
Their new house is only 1.5 kilometres from the centre of town on the south side of Mt Clarence in an historic part of Albany.
"We were so surprised to be able to find a house we loved that is close to town and to the hospital that suits us so well," Mr Kop said.
He said his niece, who was a vet, had moved to Albany last year and his nephew, a pharmacist, was moving to the town next month.
Elders Real Estate State manager WA, Drew Cary, said the exodus of people from the city to the country that started with COVID had continued into 2024.
He said some people who had sold up in Perth and went travelling during COVID were now returning to find they had been priced out of the metropolitan market.
"Or they are cashing-up in the city and moving to the country for the lifestyle," Mr Cary said.
He said the strong demand for houses in most country towns of WA was pushing up prices because it was still more affordable to live in the regions than in Perth.
"There is sudden liquidity in the market and people are moving to rural and regional centres in droves," he said.
Elders Real Estate Lake Grace sales representative Amanda Milton said there had been a rush on properties in Lake Grace and surrounding towns in late September to November last year.
"These were people who had sold in Perth, gone travelling and got caught over east or were displaced, and have come back not able to afford to buy back in the city," Ms Milton said.
"Many were trapped in their caravans or living with family.
"We got five families into Kulin recently.
"It is also people who want to get away from where they are and have a better lifestyle."
Ms Milton said the $160,000 to $250,000 bracket of houses across the Great Southern and south eastern Wheatbelt were especially popular at present.
She said there was little for sale in towns such as Lake Grace, Dumbleyung, Pingarup and Lake King.
"We cover 20,000 square kilometres from our office in Lake Grace and there is very little for sale in this radius," she said.
"If you go back four years ago, Lake Grace had 13 houses for sale.
"Now there are none.
"And the same thing is playing out in other Wheatbelt towns.
"There is nothing (for sale) in Hyden, there is one in Corrigin that we listed this week and I expect a deal will be done within the week, there is nothing in Dumbleyung and only a few in Kukerin."
Ms Milton said there was a definite shift away from higher priced coastal areas into rural WA.
"People are looking inland for affordable housing and that trend is continuing," she said.
At Collie, Elders Real Estate sales representative Clint Swallow said there had been good residential sales for the past few years - since the start of the COVID lockdowns.
"We had buyers coming in from the eastern States and from Perth," Mr Swallow said.
"They were signing up development blocks as a downsizer."
Mr Swallow said the uptick in buyers had translated to a spike in housing prices in Collie and surrounds.
He said houses previously worth less than $200,000 were now selling for $250,000 to $300,000.
Mr Swallow said there was similar high demand for lifestyle, small rural blocks.
"There is limited supply of these and of houses and nothing in the price bracket of several years ago," he said.
Mr Swallow said houses that had previously been on the market for more than 180 days were now selling in 30 to 40 days.
"Collie is popular due to its mining opportunities and just the fact that people can get a nice big block only two hours from Perth or an hour from Busselton, where they can fly-in, fly-out," he said.
Elders Real Estate residential sales manager in Albany, Blair Scott, said the trend of people wanting a coastal lifestyle had continued from the COVID lockdown period.
"We have people coming to Albany who want to get out of the city and work remotely from home," Mr Scott said.
"It is a much better lifestyle."
Mr Scott said there was also a trend of people wanting to escape the heat of Perth for the cooler weather on the South Coast.
And he said Albany was a big attraction due to the development that had occurred in the town in recent years.
"We have no traffic and a great climate," he said.
"All the mega heat waves experienced in Perth just don't make it down here.
"I estimate about 50 per cent of our residential market activity is driven by people from Perth and those outside of Albany."
Mr Scott said supply was extremely tight and houses were selling within days of listing.
He said supply hit an all time low in October last year, when there were only 100 houses available and 60 under offer.
"Normally we have about 600-650 houses on the market at any one time," he said.
"It has been crazy busy."
Mr Scott said prices had gone up by 30 per cent in the past three years on the back of these short supplies.
He said small rural blocks were particularly "hot" at present as people sought a tree-change lifestyle.
"There are so many people who want to work remotely from home and have a bit of space," he said.
"That has driven huge demand for 0.5 hectare blocks."
