‘Conveyor belt, not a cycle’: new migration figures expose rental supply crisis

Rental demand has continued to grow, with lines of renters waiting at inspections still common. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Australia’s post-pandemic migration surge has created a growing bottleneck in the national rental market that has been compounded by a shrinking pool of available rental listings, new figures show. The analysis of ABS figures showed the country needs 5,500-7500 new rental homes a week to accommodate migration-fuelled population growth, but the supply of new rentals is not keeping up. It was revealed the national pool of rental homes has instead been thinning each week because investors are selling rental homes at a faster rate than new investors are restocking the market with fresh listings. Australia’s population was estimated to have grown by 34,400 people each month over the year to December, amounting to 412,500 new people, the FoundIt analysis of ABS data showed. Queues of renters lining up at rental inspections have become the norm in many areas. Picture: Adam Yip MORE: Home price falls wipe billions from Aus economy Net overseas migration accounted for 301,000 of those new residents, nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of the nation’s population growth. FoundIt...