Housing crisis worsening with overseas arrivals running at four times the pace of new home builds
Analysis of the government’s own migration data shows there were 900,200 net overseas arrivals between July 2022 and December 2023. Over the same period there were only 265,000 building completions.
The warning comes ahead of population data out this week which is likely to confirm the fastest growth since World War II.
The Coalition has accused the government of being asleep at the wheel, with the housing crisis only set to accelerate based on the current trajectory of net overseas migration and the flatlining in construction of homes.
It claims the median rise in rental costs of 26 per cent over that period was a direct result of the imbalance.
“Labor’s housing crisis is being fuelled by record high migration and record low home building,” opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar said.
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“First-home buyers are at their lowest levels in over a decade, approvals are at 20-year lows and rents are up by 26 per cent since Labor came to office. “Meanwhile we have no meaningful housing policy from Labor, just a tiny and rehashed shared equity scheme.
“With fewer homes being built and Labor’s record levels of migration things are only getting tougher for Australians trying to find a home to buy or rent.”
Even if the statistical average of 2.5 people per home was taken into account, there was still half as many dwellings being constructed as needed, and that was before natural population growth was included.
However, housing industry experts claim this is a false view and that the industry standard was that one house was needed for every new permanent migrant. It has also warned that it doesn’t take into account that almost half the new detached dwellings were replacements for ageing housing stock.
Much of the increase in net overseas migration has been attributed to a rebalancing since the pandemic. The Albanese government has since vowed to bring the rate down with the release of a major migration reform policy in December last year.
Overseas migration data for the 2022-23 financial year shows a net annual gain of 518,000 people.
This marked a 73 per cent increase to 737,000 from 427,000 arrivals on the previous year. The largest group of was temporary visa holders, at 554,000 people.
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