Younger Australians want higher immigration even though record population growth has been linked to unaffordable rents and house prices, a new poll has found.
While older people are more sceptical about accepting more migrants, those under 34 take a different view – even demanding a bigger refugee intake as well.
A poll of 1,000 people, commissioned by Immigration To Australia, found half of those aged 18 to 34 believe Australia needed to expand its immigration program.
Among this age group, 39 per cent favoured keeping immigration at the same level, even though Treasury is forecasting a record 400,000 intake for 2022-23 and 1.5million arrivals over the five years to June 2027.
Just 11 per cent of the younger generation called for fewer migrants.
Millennials, born from 1989 to 1996, and Generation Z adults, born from 1997 to 2005, are the ones most likely to be affected by a tight rental market following the return of international students.
Younger Australians want higher immigration even though record population growth has been linked to expensive rents and house prices (pictured is a rental queue in Bondi in Sydney’s east)
By comparison, only 31 per cent of those aged 35 to 54 favoured higher immigration, with 46 per cent agreeing with the current level and 14 per cent calling for a cut in the net overseas intake.
Among those over 55, covering baby boomers and older Generation X Australians, 30 per cent favoured increasing the intake, 46 per cent backed the existing level and 25 per cent called for it to be reduced.
Older Australians, who have paid off a mortgage, are the ones least affected by higher immigration, having been able to buy a house in Sydney or Melbourne in their youth.
But it’s the young who are more vulnerable to unaffordable housing, particularly in Sydney which receives a large share of international students and skilled migrants.
To illustrate the severity of the problem, apartment rents at Haymarket, near Sydney’s Central Station and Chinatown, surged by 32.6 per cent in the year to June, taking median rent to $1,122 a week, CoreLogic data showed.
Bondi house rents have climbed by 22.4 per cent to $1,840 a week, making share living a stretch for those on low incomes.
Sydney’s median house price is so dear at $1.324million that an average, full-time worker on a $94,000 salary would owe the bank 11 times their income, even with a 20 per cent mortgage deposit.
Even units are dear, with the mid-point price of $808,407 beyond the reach of a university-educated professional on an average salary, hoping to avoid mortgage stress.
Despite the evidence, Immigration to Australia’s founder and managing director Alon Rajic said younger people were more likely to favour immigration as a way of filling labour shortages, with unemployment at a 48-year low of 3.5 per cent.
‘The willingness of younger generations to view immigration as a solution for labour market needs signifies their understanding of the beneficial impact skilled migrants can bring to the economy,’ he said.
‘Being highly connected to the online world, younger demographics may have a more global perspective, leading them to support a more inclusive approach to immigration.’
Half of those aged 18 to 34 said Australia needed to expand its immigration program, a poll of 1,000 people commissioned by Immigration To Australia found (picturd is Sydney’s Wynyard train station at peak hour)
Among the younger generation, 48 per cent wanted more refugees, compared with 34 per cent for those aged 35 to 54 and 35 per cent for those over 55.
This group were more in favour of bringing in migrants with general skills for administration and retail jobs, with 41 per cent agreeing with this idea, compared with 28 per cent for those aged 35 to 54 and 29 per cent for those over 55.
CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy said record-high immigration was adding to rental demand, as the Reserve Bank’s 12 interest rate rises since May 2022 discouraged investors from buying a home to lease.
‘On the demand side, record levels of overseas migrants, many of whom rent in inner-city unit precincts, has bolstered rental demand this year, causing an imbalance between rental demand and supply,’ she said.
‘Investors tend to shy away from the housing market during negative economic shocks.’
Sydney is home to 19 of the top 20 suburbs when it came to big rent surges and all of them were in inner-city areas or postcodes by the beach and near the central business district.
Australia’s most populated city was also home to 16 of the top 20 suburbs when it came to house rent surges, with the rest in the fly-in, fly out hub of Karratha in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
