By Naziya Alvi Rahman

Copyright theepochtimes

Migrants and Their Impact on Housing, Infrastructure

The most hotly debated impact of migration is its pressure on housing supply.

Young warns that migration-driven population growth diverts investment from areas that could improve the economy, towards building more homes and infrastructure.

“The government has a duty to be fair to those who are already here. They should have regard to the ability of the economy to provide a good standard of living to everyone,” he said.

Governments at all levels have rolled out measures to contend with booming housing demand, including first-home buyer incentives, help with home deposits, building more social housing, training more apprentices, and in the case of New South Wales, overhauling its entire town planning system.

In turn, Eslake says there’s more to housing demand than migration, saying that during the pandemic years between June 2020 and September 2021—when migration rates were at net negative levels—housing prices still surged nearly 15 percent in a year.

“Whatever impact stopping immigration may have had was more than offset by sharply lower interest rates and by other things governments did to stop house prices falling,” he said.

Eslake also echoed Young’s comments on infrastructure.

“Migrants obviously and unavoidably do add to the demand for housing, for a range of public services, and for places on public transport and roads (just like native-born Australians do),” he said.