Overseas arrivals to Australia heaping pressure on Australia’s housing market
Official data showed a surge in overseas entrants to Australia in August, which a think tank says is exacerbating pressure in the country’s housing market.
AUSTRALIA logged a big increase in long-term overseas arrivals in the year to August, adding to strain on the country’s under-pressure housing market, a think tank said.
Some 1,809,810 people entered Australia in August, up 9.3% on the previous year, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Tuesday.
Short term visitor arrivals rose by 753,320, or 14.3%, compared to the prior corresponding period, while long term visitor arrivals rose by 61,360, or 7.8%, it said.
Most visitors came from New Zealand, China and Japan, the ABS said.
Surging migration been pointed to as a contributor to Australia’s housing crisis by pushing up demand for property, especially in major cities.
Institute of Public Affairs, an independent think tank, said the data release showed that the federal government had dramatically increased Australia’s migration intake while housing construction continued to flatline.
Executive director Daniel Wild said the trends were “destroying the dream of home ownership for too many young Australians”.
Surging migration was putting “immense pressure” on housing an infrastructure and that “the latest ABS data shows, once again, migration intake records have been shattered”, Wild said in a statement.
The federal opposition has accused the Labor government of mishandling immigration, fuelling the housing crisis and infrastructure pressures in Australia’s capital cities.
As housing demand rises, new Housing Industry Association data showed Australia was falling behind on its supply-side target of building 1.2 million homes by 2030.
The HIA estimated Australia would fall almost 200,000 homes short by the end of the first five-year target period.
“There has been substantial policy reform this year that will improve the supply of new homes. These reforms will take time before they deliver new homes, and much more needs to be achieved,” HIA chief economist Tim Reardon said in a statement.
Reardon said home building remained too expensive with “onerous taxes, fees and charges incurred in delivering new homes to market”.
“Policymakers must reduce the taxes, costs and restrictions on home builders, home buyers and home investors if they want to see the kind of construction volumes.
Australia needs. Skills shortages and infrastructure bottlenecks must also be addressed,” he said.
