Last week’s population data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that Australia’s population surged by nearly 500,000 over the 2022 calendar year off record net overseas migration:
Interestingly, the breakdown of population growth by jurisdiction to Q3 2022 shows that Queensland has led the nation’s population increase since the start of the pandemic (March 2020), growing by 192,300 over that period:
That’s around double second-placed New South Wales (96,700).
This surge in Queensland’s population growth has been driven by record high interstate migration, primarily from Sydney and Melbourne:
The above charts help to explain why Queensland has experienced the nation’s strongest rental growth over the pandemic amid record low vacancy rates:
The increase in rental demand from southerners moving north is easily outpacing supply, which is causing record tightness in the market.
We’re all Queenslanders now.
