Regional migration remains strong despite falling to its lowest level since before the Covid-19 pandemic that kickstarted the tree-change trend.

The latest quarterly Regional Movers Index, released on Monday, shows relocations from major cities to regions continues to outpace moves in the other direction.

"Regional Australia is no longer a second choice - it's the smart choice," Regional Australia Institute chief executive Liz Ritchie said.

"From career opportunities to community connection, the regions are delivering."

The index uses Commonwealth Bank customer data to track internal migrations and help identify growth trends in regional centres.

On the NSW border with Victoria, regional centre Albury recorded a 16-fold increase in net migration from capital cities in the 2024/25 financial year, making it one of the fastest-growing regional hotspots charted by the index.

Albury and its cross-border twin-town Wodonga was once the site of a failed federal government plan to de-centralise major capital cities in the 1970s, but five decades later a more organic migration appears to be taking place.

"The Albury market has gone through the roof," local real estate agent Andrea Lever said.

Livability is bringing migrants from capital cities while affordability and rental yields attract investors.

"It's a great regional city because of where we're positioned," the Ray White Albury North managing director said.

"And we've got great facilities as well."

Albury is on the Hume Highway connecting Melbourne and Sydney, with trains to both capitals as well as a regional airport.

"It's a lovely lifestyle," Lever said.

"Everything takes 10 minutes to get to, but then around our region you're an hour from the snow, half an hour from wineries.

"There's really beautiful attractions at our doorstep pretty much."

Other regional centres with strong migration from capital cities include Townsville in north Queensland and Bendigo in central Victoria.

Geelong, southwest of Melbourne, slipped back to second place, while Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane, retook the top spot. 

Lever estimated about 80 per cent of her buyers were not locals.

She began conducting online auctions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"I was scared because I had no idea what that even meant."

She now does most of her auctions online.

"We can smash them out - and even if it's half a dozen or whatever - they're done within an hour."