There are good deals to be had in regional real estate but don't expect to recoup your money in a hurry, writes Harvey Grennan.

Real-estate analysts and the media tend to focus on capital cities when reporting movements in property prices. Thus we learnt Sydney and Melbourne house prices climbed nearly 20 per cent in the boom of the 2009/10 fiscal year. In more recent months, prices may have slowed but they're still edging ahead in most capitals.

The same cannot be said for many regional cities and towns. Coastal towns have been hit by a slowdown in tourism after the global financial meltdown and a fall in the number of seachangers. Indeed, some Australian towns have yet to recover from a downturn back in the last quarter of 2003.

In NSW there are bargains to be found in idyllic regional locations. At Nelson Bay, the median apartment price fell from a mid-2010 high of $407,000 to a low of $300,000 by December. In the village of Bundanoon in the Southern Highlands, a weekend retreat for Sydney's well-heeled since the 19th century, the median house price of $340,000 has not moved much in seven years and land is actually cheaper than it was in 2004.

Queenscliff in Victoria is a coastal gem but the median house price there fell from $840,000 to $660,000 between January and September 2010, the most recent figures available . In Queensland, high-rise apartment sales on the Gold Coast fell to just 47 sold in the three months to November, down from 172 for the same period the previous year.

Property analysts at RP Data report that median house prices in South Australia's Murraylands region dropped 10.9 per cent in the year to November. Meanwhile, prices fell in northern Tasmania by 2.2. per cent and in regional areas of Western Australia (outside the mining regions) by up to 12.7 per cent.

For a real 'bargain' (inverted commas because you may not get your money back) there are many small towns where a restored Victorian cottage on a couple of acres may be had for as little as $200,000. In Paddington or South Yarra the price would be astronomical and the council might ban the chooks, too.

Wise buys

To find bargain towns, go to realestate.com.au and click on ‘Suburb Profiles' for median prices. Be aware, however, that in regional markets these figures are volatile and may not be truly indicative, as just one big selling price can skew the figures in a small sample.

Boom towns

RP Data has identified non-coastal areas that bucked the trend and showed strong growth in median house prices in the year to September 2010:
NSW Armidale (up 9.3 per cent), Wagga Wagga(8.5 per cent).

Victoria Shepparton(15.3 per cent),Bendigo (10.6 per cent).

Queensland Roma(12.5 per cent),Mt Isa (9 per cent).

NT Alice Springs(13.5 per cent).