Australian Seachangers stuff up the Statistics !

Lies, damme lies and statistics, and seachangers

If you are not from the Land Downunder you may not know what a seachanger is.  Seachangers are baby boomers who sell up in the big cities and move to a smaller coastal town usually relatively close by (that’s up to 500km in Australia!).  If they don’t move to the sea they are called treechangers when they move to rural towns often in the hills.

Unless you have been under a rock recently in Australia you will have heard about how the small towns near major population centres on the East Coast are bursting at the seams with seachangers. Not only do the newcomers, drive up the price of local real estate, and cause long lines in the cafes which have an express o machine, they also put pressure on local services such as rubbish collection, parking and leisure facilities. So it was a little bit of a surprise when The Australian newspaper announced that according to the latest statistics released for the 2006 census; towns such as Lorne, Victoria and Byron Bay, NSW had lost population.

Port Douglas in far north Queensland, had officially lost one third of its population. Now this is indeed passing strange as the last time I drove through Port Douglas there was acre upon acre of new housing developments on what had been fields a few years earlier on my prior visit. In fact developments streatch most of the way north to Mossman now. There is not a parking place to be found on the whole main street of town. Parking restictions limit parking to 1 hour maximum: this crazy for a small town in Australia. So everyone knows, including the local councils, that visitor and resident numbers are up in arms and asking why are the statistics wrong?

The Australian census occurs on a mid-week night when statistically more people are supposed to be home (Tuesday normally). The question’s are pretty simple really around your dwelling and your other personal characteristics. The problem really is the answer to “where do you live?”. Seachangers are stufing up the statistics because they don’t just sell up in Melbourne or Sydney and move to Byron Bay or Lorne, they might plan to move permanently eventually, but in the meanwhile they commute. Or keep the coastal property as a weekender and work in the city Monday-Friday, or just move homes on a regular schedule if they telecommute or have a flexible employment situation.

So everyone is right really: the small towns are loosing permanent full-time residents and gaining part-time residents who still own property and make demands on local services: particularly on the weekends and holidays. In fact in parts of Australia the statistics are even odder: a mine worker who flyes onto site for a number of weeks and then home to a town: usually Perth or Brisbane may be counted either at the mne site at the back of beyond or in the city depending on his shift rotation. Tiny Wiluna in the middle of Western Australia counts nearly 2000 population on census night: but probably 1800 of those will be back in Perth the next week: the permanent residents are the locals: unless they are on walkabout of course.

So be wary when investing internationally its worth taking some time understanding a country and its quirks before jumping into property investment.

Photo credit: garion88