The Distribution Of People And Employment In Metropolitan Commutersheds: The Impact On Rural Housing Markets

The concentration of population in the major metropolitan cities has again become prominent in public debate in Australia. Politicians and commentators have called for an increase in the population of rural areas by improving commuter access to metropolitan employment through infrastructure investments that facilitate commuting from regional places of residence to metropolitan places of work, referred to as metro-bound commuters. This article investigates the impact of commuter-based population growth on rural communities, and particularly housing markets. Increasing rural housing markets indicate a process of gentrification, calling into question policies that promote population redistribution not underpinned by rural employment growth.