BIG city traffic congestion is proving more of an incentive to make a move to the bush than big city house prices, according to the latest Evocities survey.
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More than 2000 families have made the move from a capital city to Bathurst or one of the six other regional Evocities since the program launched in 2010.
Evocities conducts an online survey every two years seeking responses from relocated families to a range of questions regarding their reasons for moving and impressions of their new home town.
The search for a better quality of life was the most common reason for moving.
The latest survey, conducted in July, sought responses from families who had relocated in 2015 and 2016.
It found that the search for a better quality of life was the most common reason for moving (59 per cent of respondents) and that more people were fleeing traffic congestion in the capital cities (54 per cent) than high real estate prices (49 per cent).
The move to an Evocity had also dramatically cut the daily commuting time for many survey respondents.
Before making the move, 51 per cent of respondents said they spent more than half an hour travelling to work each day while one-in-five took more than an hour.
After making the move, two-thirds of respondents said it now took them less than 10 minutes to get to work.
More than half of the tree changers (55 per cent) who were looking for work managed to secure a job before relocating while another 22 per cent found work in their Evocity within three months of moving.
Other key survey findings included:
- 69 per cent of relocators said their cost of housing was improved or much improved since making the move.
- 63 per cent of relocators said their access to the outdoors was improved or much improved since making the move.
- 71 per cent of relocators were surprised by the facilities in their new city.
- 77 per cent of relocators said the decision to make the move to an Evocity was a good one.
Evocities began as a joint marketing campaign funded by the Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga councils encouraging city residents to consider a “tree change”.
Orange City Council withdrew from the program in April this year.
