Housing construction is not keeping up with the pace of immigration, figures suggest.
Australia’s construction industry is failing to keep up with a historic surge in immigration, with new data revealing new arrivals were three times higher than home completions over the past year.
Analysis of ABS statistics by think tank the Institute of Public Affairs showed Australia’s housing supply grew by 174,500 over the year to March, while net overseas and long-term arrivals numbered 489,300.
This equated to three new people arriving for every new home added to the property market.
Institute of Public Affairs senior fellow Dr Kevin You noted that the country built fewer homes over the past year than it did in 2016, despite the population recently hitting 28 million.
Housing completions last year were 16 per cent lower than in 2016, while migration intake was nearly double what is was a decade ago, the IPA revealed.
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Housing demand has outstripped supply for years. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
“We are building fewer homes than we did a decade ago, but we are bringing in more migrants than ever before. This is why young Australians are struggling to get a house of their own,” Dr You said.
He added that slow construction and high population growth were deepening housing shortages.
“The government’s commitment to cut migration in order to get more Australians into homes has been shattered by the latest official data showing net permanent and long-term overseas intake has about tripled housing supply over the year to March 2026.”
IPA analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Total Value of Dwellings series showed net new housing supply for the March quarter of 2026 was 54,200.
Over the same three-month period, net permanent and long-term overseas arrivals were 193,780.
Plus Agency director Peter Li (left), with agent Fiona Yang, said overseas interest in the Australian property market remained high. Picture: Tim Hunter
Dr You said migrants had played “an important part in our national story” but policies needed to be reviewed.
“A functioning migration program must be properly planned, have the consent of the community, and be targeted towards areas of economic need. The federal government has evidently failed on all three counts.”
The ABS counts a long-term arrival as a person who stayed in Australia for at least 12 of the past 16 months. The figures are an early indicator of net overseas migration, the IPA said.
Peter Li, general manager of project marketing group Plus Agency, said migrants were often buying as soon as they got their permanent residency.
Australia is building fewer homes in new housing estates than it did in 2016.
These buyers were often drawing on wealth earned outside the country, Mr Li said.
“Where is the money at the moment? The money is not in Australia. It’s in the growing countries like Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, and Indonesia. When people get their permanent residency, they want to buy their dream house,” Mr Li said.
Buyer’s agent and investor Nathan Birch, the director of investment group B.Invested, said migration outstripping the rate of home building was pushing up home prices at the bottom end of the housing market.
“It’s supply and demand,” he said. “We have lots of people who want to buy property and not enough stock. We haven’t even seen the start of it.”
Mr Birch, a high-volume corporate buyer, said he has seen the results of higher demand from migration play out first hand.
“I am getting gazumped on those $400,000 to $500,000 deals,” he said, noting that buyers were overpaying to secure homes in cheaper suburbs in some instances.
B.Invested founder and director Nathan Birch said high migration was pushing up home prices at the bottom end of the market.
He rejected claims that migration was only putting pressure on the rental market, noting that high numbers of overseas arrivals on student visas increased purchaser demand down the track.
“Someone who is a student, they are not going back. Not many people are coming here to get $50,000 of student debt, intending to go back, they are intending to stay.”
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