Immigration remains at elevated levels under Anthony Albanese even though permanent and long-term departures have hit a record monthly high.
In the year to January, 432,400 foreign migrants arrived in on a net basis, based on arrivals minus departures, despite a record number of people leaving the country.
This figure, covering skilled migrants and international students, was well above the 340,000 level forecast for 2024-25 in Treasury’s revised Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, released in December.
Just seven months earlier, the Budget papers had forecast 260,000 arrivals for this financial year.
Labor politicians have continually blamed lower departures for the high net overseas migration figures, but in January a record 85,160 people left on a permanent and long-term basis.
This was the highest monthly number in n Bureau of Statistics data going back to 1976.
Just last week, Health Minister Mark Butler suggested net immigration levels would moderate if more people left for good, after a Q+A audience member told the ABC panel he couldn’t afford the rent.
‘We have been working very hard to get migration levels, immigration levels, down to something we think the country can manage,’ Mr Butler said.
‘And what we’ve found after those efforts is that arrival numbers have returned to about pre-Covid levels, but we’re not managing the exits – the people returning back home if they’ve been here studying or they’ve been here for short-term skilled work.
‘And we’re working very hard on that.’
This was after Q+A audience member Morgan Cox blamed high migration for his $180 a week rental increase on the NSW Central Coast, north of Sydney.
‘I recently got a rent increase notice for an additional $180 a week, which works out to be about $10,000 a year,’ he said.
‘I tried to find a cheaper place and there just aren’t any. What little is available, there’s dozens of people lined up.
‘Lots of them are immigrants and they have plenty more money than I can possibly get.’
Trouble is, the monthly arrival figures are still at high levels with the permanent and long-term intake of 128,410 in January the highest since February 2024.
‘s monthly arrival numbers have been in six figures on six occasions since early 2023, before departures were factored in.
When the record-high monthly departure rate of 85,160 was factored in, had a high monthly net arrival level of 43,250 new migrants in January.
Morgan Begg, the director of research with the Institute of Public Affairs think tank, noted the net arrival figure for January 2025 was still the second highest January on record, and was more than double that month’s building approval rate of 16,579.
This is worsening ‘s housing shortage crisis.
‘The federal government is simply refusing to listen to community concerns about the effects of its unplanned and out-of-control migration program,’ Mr Begg said.
‘It is setting up for an economic and humanitarian disaster.
‘There is no way to get ‘s housing crisis under control until the federal government faces the reality that the impact an out-of-control migration intake has on housing, as well as services and infrastructure.’
Interstate migration, rather than overseas migration, seems to be a bigger factor driving up house prices, based on CoreLogic data.
Perth had the biggest annual increase of 13.9 per cent in the year to February, taking median house prices to $840,400.
Sydney’s annual house price growth was more subdued at 1.3 per cent, as the city receiving the most new overseas migrants but also having the biggest interstate exodus.
But the mid-point house price of $1.464million is by far the highest among ‘s capital cities.
Melbourne, another city receiving a big overseas influx, saw its mid-point house price fall by 3.1 per cent over the year to $916,763, as the Victoria government’s investor tax turned off prospective buyers.
A weaker n dollar, now worth 63 US cents, is also encouraging more holiday visitors, with 710,040 tourists arriving in January, marking a 17.6 per cent increase.
The Chinese made up 16 per cent of short-term visitor arrivals, making 114,660 trips, ahead of New Zealand on 96,250 and the United States on 72,090.