Anybody genuinely concerned about Australian housing affordability and inequality should be alarmed by the rental crisis unfolding across the nation.
Rents across the nation soared by 10.2% in the 2022 calendar year, according to CoreLogic, off a record low rental vacancy rate of just 1.2%:
Source: CoreLogic
Worse, the number of homes listed for rent across the combined capital cities is currently the lowest on record:
Source: CoreLogic
With this backdrop in mind, it was disturbing to see the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) figures showing that dwelling approvals have crashed, down 15.1% in the year to November:
This collapse in approvals has come at the same time as the Albanese Government has committed to the largest temporary and permanent migration program in Australia’s history, which has already seen annual immigration return to its manic pre-pandemic level:
The disaster unfolding is plain for everyone to see. And yet the business lobby and university sector continue to argue for even more immigration.
SQM Research Managing Director, Louis Christopher, took to Twitter on Monday to the raise the alarm. Christopher asked the obvious question of “where will our additional people live and how will they be housed?” – something none of the pro-mass immigration boosters ever stop to ask:
Blind Freddy can see that ramping net overseas migration to 300,000 or above – as looks inevitable in 2023 – will drive rental vacancy rates even lower and rents higher, pushing many Australians into severe financial stress and homelessness.
The Albanese Government’s ‘Big Australia’ policy is an inequality disaster in the making that sadly few in the mainstream media, think tanks, or academia are willing to call out.
