Young workers love this unusual money-saving trend. I can see why

1 week ago 4

Opinion

September 7, 2025 — 5.01am

By now, we’re all familiar with gap years, where newly graduated high schoolers take some well-deserved time off before heading back to further study or stepping onto the career ladder.

In more recent times, we’ve even seen adults embrace the idea, hitting pause on their careers to go travelling and enjoy some time without endless emails, back-to-back meetings and long days behind a computer screen.

What many people haven’t heard of, though, is another trend becoming increasingly popular among younger Australians, and that’s the financial gap year.

City dwellers have been considering a tree change.

Similarly to the traditional travel gap year, the idea is to move away from our major cities to a regional or rural spot with more affordable housing options, as well as a decrease in other cost of living expenses that quickly accumulate when living in a major city.

Though ditching city life in favour of a well-paid gig in a more remote location to save money isn’t exactly new, it is now becoming increasingly popular among younger Australians, namely because a number of our beloved cities now happen to be among the most expensive places in the world to call home.

Of course, there are always varying reasons for this kind of decision. Maybe there’s a specific financial goal in mind, like saving up for a year of travel, or wanting to get ahead early so that starting a family can be prioritised.

For as long as Australia’s metropolitan property prices remain sky-high, it’s likely we’ll see more and more people making the change.

But whenever I talk to those currently enjoying a gap year (or years) in the She’s on the Money community, one reason resoundingly trumps everything else: housing.

According to the Regional Movers Index, which tracks Australians moving from major cities to the regions, this is very much becoming a thing, with a 10.5 per cent increase in tree and sea changers throughout the March 2025 quarter.

While the migration of city folk to rural idylls boomed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many predicted that the boom would be short-lived and that as soon as normal life resumed, many would pack up and head back to the concrete jungle.

But thanks to greater working flexibility, and increasingly unaffordable property prices, wages that have failed to keep up, and an increased cost of living across day-to-day expenses like transport, groceries and utilities, the regions are still very much booming – recording a migration increase of 20.5 per cent compared with the pre-COVID average.

So much so that in the March 2025 quarter, capital city people moving to Australia’s regions outnumbered regional people making a move in the opposite direction by 25 per cent.

That’s because owning property has long been the Australian dream, but record-high property prices and stagnant wage growth means that there are few avenues of entry for young people today unless they’re lucky enough to be able to call upon the bank of mum and dad. And while that’s a wonderful gift if you can get it, a lot of extremely hardworking people can’t.

But that’s where the bang-for-your-buck financial gap year comes into play. In these instances, not only are you paid a premium salary due to the remote location, which in turn allows you to save extra, but the cost of living is generally much cheaper than it would be in a major city, either because your employer covers costs for things like accommodation, or because housing and other expenses are so much cheaper.

While property prices are still growing across Australia, as Domain’s 2025 Forecast shows, in combined capital cities, houses are expected to grow by 4 to 7 per cent, in the regions, predicted growth is substantially lower, at just 2 to 3 per cent.

In Melbourne, for example, house prices rose by an average of $23,585 in value in the June quarter this year alone, bringing the median metropolitan house price to $1.06 million. While regional prices also grew, the median home outside of Melbourne is priced at just $544,250.

In NSW, it’s a similar story. Sydney house prices grew by an average of $43,882 across the June quarter, setting a record high median price of $1.72 million. Regionally, the median is close to a million dollars less, sitting at $752,250.

This disparity is one of the main reasons influencer Tim Abbott says he ditched his marketing job in Sydney and moved to remote western Queensland in July to work.

Now working outdoors on a property, Abbott told his Instagram followers at the time, “I was living in Sydney, paying $600 a week in rent not including bills, and that is something that’s doubled in three years.

Tim Abbott told his Instagram followers he pays just $220 a month in rent, and estimates that his cost of living expenses have declined by around 75 per cent.

So it used to be around $300 and now it’s $600; I’m sure it’s a common story. I was in a pretty good financial situation, I don’t have car debt, credit card debt, student loans, but my salary also hadn’t really increased in the last couple of years either.”

Looking at the years ahead, Abbott says he began to wonder why he was putting so much energy into a life that he didn’t truly want and didn’t look like what he dreamed about.

Now, he’s paying just $220 a month in rent (that alone is a saving of close to $29,000 a year), and estimates that his cost of living expenses have dropped by around 75 per cent.

Though he’s already powering through a number of financial goals, including saving $100,000 to eventually put towards a home, Abbott says the gap year will “likely be a lot longer than a year because I’m loving it so much and saving so much”.

That sentiment of moving for the money but staying for the lifestyle is one that people who have left the cities talk about a lot. The slower pace of life, the reduced stress that comes from having more money and fewer financial pressures, and the community of other people who get it are all serious drawcards, especially if it helps set up younger people for decades to come.

Because for as long as Australia’s metropolitan property prices remain sky-high, it’s likely we’ll see more and more people making the change.

Victoria Devine is an award-winning retired financial adviser, bestselling author and host of Australia’s No.1 finance podcast, She’s on the Money. She is also founder and director of Zella Money.

Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.