Isn’t it amazing that the Coalition’s latest housing inquiry pinned the nation’s affordability problems on a lack of supply, yet made zero mention of the primary role played by ‘Big Australia’ mass immigration in causing the purported supply shortage?
Yet Australia’s developers are very clear that mass immigration is the fundamental driver of housing demand and continually lobby for a larger migration intake so that they can sell more homes at higher profits.
Last week we saw Property Council of Australia chief executive Ken Morrison once again call on the federal government to ramp-up immigration to “normal” levels, only to then complain that Australia faces a housing “supply crunch” when immigration is rebooted.
Now, more developers have admitted they need a return to mass immigration to boost sales volumes:
Developers are banking on a new wave of interest from international buyers over the next few years as borders reopen…
“Pent-up demand from overseas buyers who wanted to come here and work or study is coming through following the lifting of restrictions,” [managing director of developer Cedar Woods, Nathan Blackburne] said.
“By June, we expect the data to show a strong upswing in overseas buyer numbers.”
As international border restrictions ease, the federal government’s Centre for Population expects net overseas migration to recover strongly and return to pre-pandemic trends by 2024-25, should the Covid-19 situation remain stable…
The tight vacancy rate was only set to worsen as migration rises.
All of which proves, yet again, that the hand wringing over a ‘lack of supply’ is a distraction.
Remember, the federal government has projected an insane 235,000 net overseas migration (NOM) per year for the next 40 years, which will swell Australia’s population by 13.1 million people (a 50% increase). Such an immigration deluge will add the equivalent of another Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Australia’s current population:
Big Australia immigration is behind Australia’s housing supply woes.
Thus, any housing supply problem is first and foremost an excessive immigration problem.
The single best thing policy makers can do to ‘solve’ Australia’s housing supply issue is to ensure that immigration does not return to its manic pre-COVID level, nor is raised to the insane 235,000 annual NOM projected by the Centre for Population.
Policy makers and commentators should quit gaslighting the public on housing supply and address the source of the problem.
Indeed, many of Australia’s problems – from housing to infrastructure to the environment – could be ameliorated with the stoke of a pen by simply lowering immigration to sensible and sustainable levels below 100,000 people a year – the historical average. Doing so would also be electorally popular.
