Latest migration figures will have deep impact on home prices, rents

Australia’s migration intake has fallen over the past year but tenants have been warned it may take up to 15 months for the reduction to deliver meaningful relief in rents, while building activity continues to lag population growth. ABS figures released today showed net migration over the year to March totalled 292,100, a drop in intake of about 5.6 per cent on the previous year. Migration added nearly 85,000 residents to NSW, about 82,000 to Victoria and 55,000 to Queensland. Annual intake has dropped markedly since borders were reopened after the Covid pandemic, but remain well above the average reported in the years before Covid. Net overseas migration, the number of people who move here, minus the number who leave, hit 526,000 in 2022–23. It fell to 433,000 the next year, then to 303,000 last year. MORE: ‘Vanishing’: new figure is horror news for tenants Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke had been under pressure to deliver migration reform. Picture: Gaye Gerard Quarterly intake nationally was up between January and March – with net overseas migration amounting to 101,000, a rise of about 45,000 people – but there is some seasonality to the figures, with this period of year ty...