So this wasn't so much about city people wanting tree changes, but rather the interruption of the longstanding trend of others moving to the big smoke. Regardless of the source of the change in population flows, though, it is undeniable that in many regional housing markets, prices and rents have increased considerably. This is impinging on the budgets of existing residents.
It is important to be mindful of that. With the inflow all but stopped and outflows continuing, population growth in Australia's largest cities over the last two years was much weaker than in the rest of the country. These shifts are now unwinding, with internal migration returning to a more typical pattern and overseas migration slowly starting to pick up.