The topic of Australia’s housing crisis was debated on last night’s Sharri program on Sky News.
When quizzed on the housing crisis, National Senator Bridget McKenzie argued that “bringing in another 1.5 million [migrants] over the next five years isn’t going to make that [housing crisis] any easier”.
Labor MP Andrew Charlton countered by agreeing that “housing is in crisis across Australia. In my electorate of Paramatta, rents are up 19% over the last year alone”.
“The only solution to that is to build more houses. We’ve got a policy on the table to do exactly that. It’s being blocked by the Greens in combination with the Liberals”, Charlton argued.
The next chart from Domain tells the tale. It shows that Australia will need to add 500,000 to its housing stock over the four years 2025-26 just to accommodate the 1,235,000 net overseas migrants projected to arrive over the same period:
This means Australia will need 341 additional homes every day for four years just for the new migrants projected to arrive.
Australia will also need to build even more than the above supply target to account for homes lost through demolition.
Clearly, the “only” solution to Australia’s housing crisis is not “to build more houses”, as Charlton claims.
It would be far easier and effective to simply reduce immigration into Australia. It would also be politically popular:
Source: The Australian Population Research Institute
We also know that Anthony Albanese lied about immigration before the election:
Had Albo told Australians prior to the last federal election that he intended to ramp immigration to record levels, he probably would have lost.
Sadly, Labor has chosen gaslighting and spin over genuine housing solutions.
