Australia’s rental crisis hits tragic milestone

Last week, CoreLogic released its housing market results for August, which showed that annual national rental growth hit a record high 10%, with universally strong growth reported across the nation’s capitals:

Rental rates increased a further 0.8% in August across CoreLogic’s national rental index…

Annual rental growth reached double digits (10.0%) for the first time since at least 2006 when CoreLogic rental statistics commence.

The record high rental growth has arisen on the back of a sharp decline in rental supply, with rental listings tracking around 40% below their pre-pandemic level:

Australian rental listings have collapsed.

CoreLogic also warned that that rising immigration will add upward pressure to demand, lifting rental growth even higher:

As overseas migration normalises, it is likely rental demand will increase further. Without any signs of a material rise in rental supply, the outlook for rents remains one of further growth.

On Friday, the Albanese Government announced that it would lift Australia’s permanent migrant intake to a record high 195,000 people. It also announced that it would accelerate temporary migration by allowing international students to work longer in Australia after they complete their studies, alongside promising to clear the “nearly one million” backlog of visa applications awaiting approval.

Albanese Government’s visa advertisement.

Where will the hundreds of thousands of additional migrants live given there is already insufficient housing for incumbent Australians and a severe rental crisis?

Obviously adding hundreds of thousands of people to rental demand will send vacancy rates plummeting even lower, will spike rents, and will throw thousands of Australians into homelessness.

Labor’s ‘Big Australia’ immigration policy is an inequality disaster in the making.