More Migrants More Demand, But Where Are The Homes?

Overseas migration numbers have been front and centre in the political debate recently, with all the major players announcing new policies centred around reducing numbers and or making the intake more targeted.

The situation with migration has huge relevance for residential real estate because the rate of creation of new dwellings has not kept pace with the demand created by new population.

The latest data shows that Melbourne is the city that's growing the most and continues to struggle with all the elements of the housing crisis.

Melbourne's problems have not been caused solely by high migration levels, but they definitely have played a major part.

The latest population data from the ABS shows that in the year to April 2026, Melbourne and Victoria added more to their populations than anywhere else in Australia.

and most of that population growth came from overseas migrants.

Currently, Victoria is adding more to its population than Queensland or New South Wales, and a lot more than the state that leads the nation on population growth in percentage terms, Western Australia.

Victoria added 110,000 people in the year to April, compared with just 90,000 for Queensland and 97,000 for New South Wales.

Victoria's growth rate, 1.6%, exceeds the national average of 1.4%, and is second only to Western Australia, which grew 2.1% in 12 months.

Now, the overall situation with Australia's population growth is all about overseas migration.

The other component of population growth, which is natural increase, is relatively minor and has been gradually declining for many years.