Australian Bureau of Statistics data points to a significant rise in housing demand, boosted by continued population growth and a spike in migration.
Population growth is now at 1.49% – the highest rate of growth since the last quarter of 2009 – and net overseas migration is at the highest level in two years.
The country’s rate of net migration is now 18% higher than 2011, and each state has seen an increase in the level of overseas migration.
New South Wales and Victoria have attracted the greatest numbers of migrants overall, but Western Australia has lured the highest number of overseas newcomers (up 49% on 2011) on the back of the resources boom.
Head of RP Data research and analytics, Tim Lawless, says migration is helpung accelerating the housing market.
"Historically, Queensland has attracted the lion’s share of interstate migrants, but since 2010 Western Australia and Queensland have been recording fairly similar numbers of net interstate migrants," he said.
"Looking forward, we can expect population growth to continue to increase across Australia. If the Department of Immigration forecasts are anything to go by, we are likely to see higher levels of population growth over the coming years on the back of further overseas migration."
This could herald good news for the building industry and landlords, who are both in a position to support new arrivals with housing needs.
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