Migrant influx about to make housing crisis worse, Tehan warns

An IPA analysis says Australia faces a shortfall of at least 212,800 homes between 2023-2028 as a result of increased migration targets.

Shadow immigration minister Dan Tehan. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Australia’s housing supply will be short hundreds of thousands of dwellings even as the government opens the floodgates to a historic intake of new migrants, shadow immigration minister Dan Tehan has charged.

The comments came after AMP chief economist Dr Shane Oliver predicted “a renewed surge in the undersupply of housing” in analysis released last week.

“The rapid rebound in immigration over the last 18 months roughly equates to demand for an extra 200,000 dwellings. At the same time the supply of new dwellings has slowed with labour shortages, cost increases and falling building approvals,” Dr Oliver wrote.

Mr Tehan said that the analysis proved the government was not doing enough for housing or infrastructure.

At the federal budget last October, Mr Tehan said, “Labor forecast net overseas migration of 235,000 people coming into Australia this year, now they say that number will be 400,000 people. The forecast is for 715,000 over two years.”

Housing approvals have fallen to their lowest level in a decade.

“The equivalent population of Canberra is moving to Australia this year and yet Labor has no plan to address the housing crisis and the rental crisis this is driving.”

“When people are stuck in deadlocked traffic or can’t find someone to live they should ask themselves why is Labor running a Big Australia,” he said.

The comments come as the Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures showing housing approvals fall to their lowest level in a decade, with NSW showing a 34.1 per cent fall in total building approvals in the March quarter compared to the same period last year.

Despite government pushes to increase density, “multi-unit approvals in 2023 have recorded their lowest levels since 2012,” said Housing Industry Association senior economist Tom Devitt.

“The adverse impact of last year’s cash rate increases is still to fully flow through to the official data (while) the combination of construction cost blowouts, labour uncertainties, increased compliance costs and taxes on investors has seen approvals for multi-units stall,” he said.

The increasing pressure on housing and rental markets as well as infrastructure has led to polls suggesting a greater scepticism of “Big Australia” immigration agendas.

Research by the Institute for Public Affairs found that 60 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that “Australia should temporarily pause its intake of new immigrants until more economic and social infrastructure such as schools, roads, hospitals and houses are built.”

The IPA’s own analysis found that Australia is facing a shortfall of at least 212,800 homes between 2023-2028 as a result of increased migration targets.

Originally published as Migrant influx about to make housing crisis worse, Tehan warns