Immigration bust slices housing demand

The organisation found that international border closures had effectively shut down net overseas migration, which accounted for 59 per cent of population growth since 2007.

The most pessimistic scenario implies a reduction in the population increase – from peak to trough – of 214,000 from 2019 to 2021, which implies a decline of 0.8 per cent of the population over the two-year period, which has only been surpassed by World War I and the unwinding of the peak of the baby boom in 1971.

NHFIC also found international students were the “swing factor”, accounting for 50 per cent of net overseas migration, and that large falls in underlying dwelling demand were already putting upward pressure on vacancy rates and downward pressure on rents, particularly in some inner-city areas.