“Two years after the IPA first warned of an impending series of mass migration-induced housing supply shortfalls, governments have failed to respond adequately. Home ownership is fundamental to the Australian way of life, and too many are missing out because of poor policy,” said Daniel Wild, Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs.
Today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ updated Total Value of Dwellings data for the June 2025 quarter shows:
- The total number of housing units in Australia increased by 173,800 in the financial year ending 2025, against an estimated 436,300 person increase in Australia’s population.
- Approximately three quarters of the population growth in the 2025 financial year was expected to have been comprised of net overseas migration, according to Treasury estimates (+335,100).
- Since the year 2000, it is estimated that Australia’s migrant population has more than doubled (+103 per cent) while the number of housing units has increased by only 54 per cent.
- The average price for a home nationwide has hit a record high of $1.016 million.
“The federal government’s own Centre for Population estimates that population growth for the 2025 financial year will hit 436,300, which has exceeded the increase in net new housing supply by 262,500,” Mr Wild said.
Net new housing supply vs population growth in the financial year ending 2025
Previous IPA research found that in the 2025 financial year, the percentage growth in the approvals of units and apartments (27 per cent) outpaced the percentage growth in the approvals of detached homes (6 per cent) by more than 4 to 1.
“Increasingly, Australia’s housing construction is disproportionately focused on the types of dwellings that families do not actually want to live in. Our leaders are blind to the needs of community, and this is having a negative impact on Australians’ wellbeing and living standards,” Mr Wild said.
Since the year 2000, Australia’s housing stock is estimated to have only increased by roughly 54 per cent, whereas its migrant population is expected to have more than doubled (increasing by 103 per cent) from 4.39 million to approximately 8.92 million.
Cumulative housing approval shortfalls to National Housing Accord target
“With the federal government’s National Housing Accord failing to deliver at the same time it is bringing in 1.3 million new migrants over three years, Australia is being set up for a disaster. There is no plan on how to house new arrivals,” Mr Wild said.
“All levels of government must do their part to fix this crisis. The federal government should immediately reduce migration to sustainable levels, while state and local governments must open up more land and cut red tape to speed housing construction.”
“Across the board, the latest figures reinforce the depth of Australia’s housing crisis, brought about by out-of-control migration intakes, a construction sector burdened by red tape, and competition for resources from large, expensive, and inefficient taxpayer-funded projects,” Mr Wild said.
To download the IPA’s research click here.
