Anybody wondering why Australia is suffering its worst rental crisis in modern history only needs to look at Thursday’s disastrous population and immigration figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Australia’s population grew by a record 563,200 in the year to March 2023, driven by a record 454,300 net overseas migration (NOM):
Australia has already blown well past the May federal budget’s projection of 400,000 NOM and 524,000 population growth over the 2022-23 financial year.
Source: 2023 federal budget
The latest monthly arrivals and departure data from the ABS, released earlier this week, also showed the permanent and long-term arrivals shot to record highs in the year to July:
According to AMP chief economist, Shane Oliver, this is “pointing to further acceleration in immigration”:
Source: Shane Oliver (Chief Economist at AMP)
The August ABS labour force survey also points to ongoing population (NOM) growth:
Source: Justin Fabo (Senior Economist at Maquarie Group)
In July 2020, immigration influencer, Abul Rizvi, predicted that Australia’s NOM would not exceed 200,000 in a year this decade:
Rizvi has also continually claimed that the federal budget’s 400,000 NOM projections for 2022-23 were far too optimistic and has staked his reputation on it.
On Tuesday, Rizvi published an article stating “net migration is unlikely to reach the revised Treasury forecast of net migration in 22-23 of 400,000”.
Rizvi’s reputation has been left in tatters by these official numbers from the ABS. It’s a wonder anybody still listens to him.
