Gotti: “Australia is running out of migrants to buy houses”

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Of all the reasons to spruik for mass immigration, the following drivel from The Australian’s Robert Gottliebsen takes the cake:

According to Gotti:

The first problem ahead of us is that for the last two years we have turned off the migrant tap which means that by the end of next year (the first year of the new government) demand will fall sharply. Even if we open the migration tap early in 2022, the new settlers will not be ready to buy a house…

The new arrivals will not be ready to buy into the suburban housing market and are likely to seek apartment accommodation. We have slowed the building of apartments so we are not well prepared for a big rise in migration/students although there are a lot of apartments in Melbourne vacant…

Cottage home builders have curbed the price rises by making the houses and land smaller and smaller. The migrants, who have often been living in cramped quarters, have accepted the smaller sizes.

The obvious question for Gotti is: what’s the point of building all of this housing if it will simply be ‘filled-up’ with migrants? How does this benefit existing Australian residents, who will be forced to live in more expensive, cramped accommodation?

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Sydney dwelling composition

Houses only for the rich.

We are continually told that Australia’s housing problems are caused by a ‘lack of supply’. And yet these same people repeatedly shill for mass immigration, which obviously causes the supply shortfall.

Mass immigration-led development is the ultimate Ponzi scheme, with Gotti’s industry mates privatising the gains while the costs are socialised on the existing population via: 1) funding the increasing infrastructure needs (water, power, transport, recreation facilities etc); and 2) suffering the downsides of increasing congestion, being crammed into defective high-rise apartments, paying higher housing costs, lower wages, and watching the natural environment get destroyed.

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Sadly, in the property Narco state of Australia, industry pulls the strings. Nothing boosts their profits like flooding the place with millions more people.

Relax Gotti. The mass immigration ‘Big Australia’ policy will be rebooted quickly enough and you and your mates will get your way. Always follow the money.

About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.