Federal Budget 2023: Australians flee Sydney in droves – as 1.5million migrants sweep into country

Sydneysiders tired of overcrowding will flee Australia’s largest city in droves, shocking budget figures show – as 1.5 million new migrants move to Australia over the next five years.

Treasury figures from Daily Mail Australia show that between now and July 2027, 124,100 people are expected to leave New South Wales for other states.

They move to Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.

At the same time, Australia is now forecast to take in 1.495 million new migrants over five years, including a record 400,000 in 2022-2023 and 315,000 in 2023-24.

Australia’s population is still being tipped to grow from 26.5 million to 28.172 million in five years, despite Home Secretary Clare O’Neil’s statement last month: ‘I am not one to advocate for a great Australia in this conversation.’

The national population growth rate of 1.7 percent during this coming financial year will be among the highest in the developed world.

Population growth will have an impact – with unemployment already at a 48-year low of 3.5 percent and bosses struggling to hire.

From the next financial year, Australia’s net overseas migration level – based on permanent and long-term arrivals minus departures – is expected to fall back to 260,000 each year.

NSW is expected to see its population increase by 434,000 from 8.3 million in 2022-23 to 8.734 million in 2026-27, based mainly on foreign arrivals.

Due to the arrival of a large influx of new skilled migrants and international students, 30,100 people were expected to leave the state for another part of Australia during this financial year, representing 124,100 interstate departures in five years.

Sydney’s median home price of $1.25 million is already the second most expensive in the world after Hong Kong by income, according to data from CoreLogic and Demographia.

Compared to Queensland, 114,900 people were expected to move to the Sunshine State from other parts of Australia between 2022-23 and 2026-27. Brisbane’s median home price of $781,881 is much cheaper than Sydney or Melbourne.

The population of the Sunshine State would grow by 341,000 in five years, from 5.441 million to 5.782 million.

Victoria’s population would increase by 534,000 from 6.78 million to 7.314 million in a state where homes in Melbourne typically cost $907,220.

Australia’s second most populous state was expected to have 2,000 leave for another state in 2022-2023, but growth every two years meant 8,400 new residents would arrive on the Interstate in 2026-27.

Western Australia’s mining-rich population would grow by 183,000 in five years to 3,030 million, from 2,847 million, of which only 8,000 are due to interstate migration in a state where Perth’s median house price is $599,240.

However, South Australia was expected to see 13,000 residents move to another state by 2026-2027. Adelaide has an average house price of $697,909.

The population was still predicted to grow by 78,000 in five years to 1,927 million from 1,849 million, based on overseas migration.

Tasmania’s population is projected to grow by 29,000 to 607,000 from 578,000 by 2026-2027 as 3,500 moved off the highway in the island state where homes in Hobart cost $692,341.

The Australian Capital Territory, which covers Canberra, where homes typically cost $946,463, would see its population grow by 39,000 from 466,000 to 505,000 over five years, while 3,500 people moved off the interstate.

The population of the Northern Territory was expected to grow by only 16,000 from 254,000 to 270,000 as 4,400 people moved interstate in five years, despite Darwin having the most affordable house price of $573,534.

Australia’s population passed the 25 million mark in 2018 – 24 years earlier than predicted in the Treasury’s 2002 Intergenerational Report.

It passed the 26 million level last year, after that the population shrank in 2020 for the first time since 1916, during World War I, due to the pandemic border closure.