Sydney and Melbourne are home to more than half of the permanent migrants who have come to Australia in the last 20 years, raising fears that the country’s largest cities will come under more pressure as the influx of the country rises to record levels.
Treasury officials reportedly plan to see Australia’s migration levels rise to 350,000 during this financial year, up from the highest level in 15 years.
Combined with estimates for next year, this means a total of 1.2 million more people will be living in Australia by June 2024 compared to five years earlier.
The floodgates are being opened for skilled migrants, international students and those coming for family or humanitarian reasons, even though Sydney and Melbourne have very low rental vacancy rates of one per cent.
Between 2000 and 2021, 56 percent of new migrants settled in Australia’s two largest cities.
Sydney became home to 29.3 percent of new migrants, compared to Melbourne’s share of 26.6 percent, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.
Perth took in 12.1 percent of migrants compared to Brisbane’s 9.7 percent and Adelaide’s 5.6 percent.
Regional Queensland, which includes the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, took in 5.8 percent of those new migrants.
Sydney (queuing for a rental viewing in the city is pictured) and Melbourne are home to more than half of Australia’s new permanent migrants – fears are high that the country’s largest cities will face more pressure as the influx rises to 650,000 over the next two years
“We remain very concerned about the situation in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, where most international arrivals land first,” said SQM Research Director Louis Christopher (pictured, a Sydney tram queue)
SQM Research director Louis Christopher said rising immigration would make it even more difficult for renters to find accommodation, with weekly rents in Sydney rising by 25 per cent over the past year, compared to Melbourne’s 22 per cent.
“We remain very concerned about the situation in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, where most international arrivals land first,” he said.
“The strong increase in longer-term net foreign income and permanent arrivals relative to the supply of new homes ensures that extremely tight rental conditions remain in our two largest capitals.”
Australia’s rental crisis is so critical that some families are forced to live in tents because there is a severe shortage of long-term accommodation.
Kailaeb Vescio-Stanley, who has been sleeping with his father in a Brisbane park for more than two weeks, told Sunrise presenter David Koch about the impact it had on his life.
“I see a lot of people getting it rough, and the majority of people I see getting it rough in parks are actually teenagers,” he explained.
Kailaeb Vescio-Stanley, who has been sleeping with his father in a Brisbane park for more than two weeks, told Sunrise presenter David Koch that the area was full of homeless teenagers.
‘Labour’s record high immigration is literally forcing Australian families to live on the streets – and winter is coming,’ said Pauline Hanson (pictured, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday)
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was so fed up that she tweeted her disgust at plans to see net overseas migration double from 300,000 to 650,000 — which is the amount that will come together in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
“Labour’s record levels of immigration are literally forcing Australian families to live on the streets – and winter is coming,” she said.
“We have an unprecedented housing and rental crisis. We don’t have enough houses for everyone in Australia.
“Australia is in serious trouble.”
Brisbane’s rental vacancy rate is just 0.8 percent, data from SQM Research showed.
The problem is widespread: Sydney has a rental vacancy rate of just 1.3 percent, compared to Melbourne’s 1.1 percent, Perth’s 0.4 percent and Adelaide’s 0.5 percent.
The Treasury’s forecast of 650,000 new migrants, for 2022-23 and 2023-24, as reported in The Australian, is a big jump.
Australia’s net annual immigration in the year to September 2022 was 303,700 people – a 15-year record – bringing the total population above 26.1 million.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was so fed up she tweeted her disgust at plans to see net overseas migration, after departure, rocket
This was the largest increase abroad since late 2008 and includes skilled migrants, family reunions and international students.
The number of immigrants was also significantly higher than the October budget forecast of 180,000 for 2022-23 and the projected level of 235,000 for 2024-25.
The wave of immigration also coincides with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese facing obstacles in his plan to build 30,000 homes under the Housing Future Fund.
Labour’s plan to build new social and affordable housing over the next five years has been opposed by the Greens, whose support the government needs in the Senate to get the legislation passed.
A bill to establish the $10 billion fund will be voted into parliament this week, but Brisbane-based Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, who manages the small party’s housing portfolio, opposes the money-in-equity program. invests.
“Our goal is for the millions of people in this country who need affordable housing, for the hundreds of thousands on the social housing waiting list; their lives shouldn’t depend on whether or not a gamble on the stock market goes well – imagine doing that for schools or hospitals?’