A HORSHAM real estate agent says employment opportunities and family are the most common reasons why people move to the city.
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Wes Davidson Real Estate director Wes Davidson said education, medical and public transport options needed to grow and improve in Horsham for this trend to continue.
"Economic growth will probably not happen without those three things," he said.
Mr Davidson said Horsham could attract more professionals by embracing technology.
"Many jobs now don't rely on a physical presence of office. (It would help) if we have good IT infrastructure and the right NBN speeds so people can run their operations via the internet from a low-cost base like Horsham, that's probably where we're going to see some jobs created," he said.
"Any manufacturing or labour-based business which requires road transport is going to be hard to attract, given the transport costs."
Mr Davidson said areas around the Wimmera River continued to the most popular for house sales in Horsham.
Data from property analysts Domain shows 281 houses have sold in Horsham in the past 12 months - most of them three-bedroom homes, with a median cost of $263,000.
Another agent, Gerry Smith, said he noticed a growing trend of people moving to Horsham from Melbourne.
Mr Smith said a small number of people were buying homes in Horsham in the past 18 months as they sought a relaxed lifestyle. He said before this, cheaper house prices were a major drawcard.
"It's people who just can't live in the city anymore," he said. "(In Horsham) are no pressures like traffic, congestion or lack of quality of life.
"In terms of what parts of Horsham they choose to buy, there's nowhere specifically that's popular. It's more about where they don't want to be rather than where they do."
Mr Smith said this trend was not unique to Horsham, and encompassed people of all ages and demographics. While Mr Smith said passenger rail would make Horsham more attractive to potential residents, he said it was important people were confident in the city's assets.
"We market Horsham as a place with a cheaper cost of living and employment opportunities that are at least as good as or better than the city," he said.
"Some people spend time talking down the region instead of focusing on its successes in the arts, sport and tourism. We have a lot to be proud of."
North-west Victoria was last month named the eighth most livable region in Australia in a survey of 9500 people via polling company Ipsos.
The Life in Regional Australia in 2018 report asked people to rate how well their region performed on a scale between zero and 10 across 16 "livability attributes".
North-west Victoria incorporates Ararat, Stawell, Horsham, Kerang, Swan Hill, Mildura and the area between.
Respondents gave the region below-average scores for both access to efficient and reliable public transport and shopping, leisure and dining opportunities. They gave it above-average scores for safety.
Ipsos' senior research manager Lucy Hedt said the aim of the data was for governments to use it in conjunction with employment and population data to improve living outcomes in each area.
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