Housing Affordability & Population Growth Interlinked

Population growth is an important driver of residential property, and unfortunately it is not being recognised as one of the major contributors to price growth in Sydney and Melbourne. When you look at the arguments around affordability, it is Melbourne and Sydney that are Australia's only real trouble spots. This correlates incredibly closely with the population dynamics being experienced in this country.

Whilst Queensland has the highest interstate migration in the September Quarter, it is tiny by comparison to the international migration numbers being experienced in NSW and Victoria.

If the government is serious about looking at affordability and boosting some State economies, perhaps a good starting point might be trying to influence where the population is settling. At present, both Sydney and Melbourne are experiencing significant growth in the number of group households as a means of countering affordable accommodation. We expect this to be born out in the 2016 Census data.

Changing the population settlement patterns will impact affordability, it is surprising no one is talking about it. Food for thought???