Impact of GFC in housing market in regional Australia: Lessons from the Central Queensland

The recent global financial crisis (GFC) affected Australian major cities with negative consequence but some regional towns were not affected that much. This paper deals with the surviving factors of housing market in two major towns i.e., Rockhampton and Mackay of the central Queensland (CQ) region during the GFC period. The CQ region is located in the centre of the State of Queensland, Australia. The study found demand factors were stronger than the supply factors in these towns such as financial incentives to the new home buyers, financial incentives for low income families, lowering interest rates during the financial crisis, coupled with investor’s trust in anticipated new projects and employment in the regional area, are becoming the critical surviving factors of housing market in the CQ region. These factors can be considered while a similar region needs a property market stability or recovery from such financial crisis in future.