The housing boom is far from over in the regions, with prices in some areas expected to rise by another 20 per cent this year as demand continues to outstrip supply, experts say. House prices in some popular regions such as the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Shepparton in Victoria and the Hunter Valley in NSW, had already shot up by around 10 per cent since the start of the year, said Nerida Conisbee, Ray White chief economist. “At the rate prices are rising in these areas, it’s quite possible for them to climb by around 20 per cent this year,” she said. “Many regions are still on track for a 10 per cent rise this year, so I think the housing boom is definitely not over for areas that are relatively close to capital cities.” Tim Lawless, CoreLogic’s research director, said while growth rates were clearly easing from record levels across most parts of regional Australia, prices were still rising strongly. “We’ve already seen regional housing values across Australia increase by 6.6 per cent over the first four months of the year, so a further net growth of 4.4 per cent over the next eight months doesn’t seem unreasonable, especially considering the quarterly growth rate of 4.7 per cent over the most recent three-month period,” he said. High internal migration rates “This is well above average and, in anyone’s book, a very strong rate of growth. Anecdotally, we are still seeing strong demand for regional housing supported by high internal migration rates.”