Top 10 Regional Growth Areas For 2021
Investors and homeowners are looking beyond the Australian capital cities.
By Terry Christodoulou
Fri, Mar 26, 2021 12:04pm
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Eight of Australia’s top 10 regional growth areas will see the value of development exceed the billion-dollar mark this year as buyers look beyond Australia’s capital cities.
The PRD Stand Out regions report ranked locations around Australia according to the median price affordability alongside indicators for property investment, local employment growth and sustainable economic futures.
Coastal locations of The Whistdundays (QLD), Port Stephens (VIC) and Greater Bendigo (VIC) fared best in the report as places for residential development, with a rental vacancy of 0.4-1.5 per cent at the end of 2020 compared to 1.8-4.7 per cent in city areas according to the report.
Other top performing regions included Mackay (QLD), Toowoomba (QLD), Greater Hume Region (NSW), Federation (NSW), Greater Geelong (VIC), Warrnambool (VIC) and Circular Head (TAS).
While residential potential in these regions is strong, commercial infrastructure and industrial projects make up a large portion of development set to start in 2021 including solar farms, new commercial hubs and transport links.
“Regional areas have become the most attractive option throughout 2020, with evidence of buyers capitalising on lower median property prices,” the PRD Stand Out Regions report said.
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The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.
By Liz Lucking
Mon, Jul 13, 2026 2 min
2 min
Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.
The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.
“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”
Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.
The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”
Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.
The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.
The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.
The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.
The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”
The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”
The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”
