Melbourne has the largest growth by number (80,000 or 1.6 per cent), but Brisbane grew by 1.9 per cent (46,900).

Brisbane’s population was now 2,560,700. Sydney has 5,367,200 and Melbourne 5,159,200.

The ABS data showed there was a distinct shift to the outer suburbs already underway last financial year, a period which included the nationwide lockdowns.

Real estate agents and property companies have also detected a swing to the suburbs as people look for affordability, more open spaces and homes with separate office space.

Suburbs well away from Brisbane have shown some of the strongest growth but nothing like the population explosion at the new estates at Ripley which had an additional 1600 people (20.3 per cent) in the financial year.

An apparent shift to the regions has led to Kent Removals quadrupling its footprint in Townsville.

It is building a multi-million dollar site in Townsville that will include office space and a storage warehouse to service from Rockhampton to Mt Isa, north to the tip of the mainland and out to islands off the north and east coasts.

Kent chief executive Stephen Alves said the new facility was built for growth, recognising both the potential of the region and the increasing demand for new storage.

He said Kent’s customer data indicated that there was a wave of relocations into the Townsville region and across Queensland more broadly.

However, the ABS data showed Cairns and Townsville did poorly in the financial year. Cairns grew by 1 per cent and Townsville slightly less.

Kent has recently increased storage capacity across its owned sites by about 50,000 cubic metres at sites in Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Darwin and Townsville.

The new Townsville facility is scheduled to open in August.

According to the ABS, the local government areas that saw some of the biggest growth spurts were Sunshine Coast (2.5 per cent), Ipswich (3.4 per cent), Moreton Bay (2.2 per cent), Hope Vale (2.1 per cent) and Mareeba (1.7 per cent).

The suburbs with the highest growth were Ripley (20.3 per cent), Pallara (16.2 per cent), Pimpama (13.7 per cent), Chambers Flat (13.2 per cent), Wolffdene (10.8 per cent) and Rochedale (10.4 per cent).

There was still strong growth in South Brisbane (6.7 per cent), Brisbane CBD (5.4 per cent), Fortitude Valley (6.5 per cent) and Kangaroo Point (5 per cent).