The Australian Financial Review reported that Liberal Party leader Dutton promised in a budget response speech on Thursday evening that he would slash the permanent immigration quota to 140,000 after winning the election and ban foreign investors and temporary residents from buying existing homes for two years.
Dutton said the plan would release 100,000 homes and help Australians by "reviving the dream of homeownership". The reduction of the permanent immigration quota by a quarter to 140,000 also brings the figure to its lowest level in 20 years. Given that the labor shortage remains unabated, the move could lead to stubbornly high inflation.
(Image source: Australian Financial Review)
The report pointed out that Dutton has difficulty saying what impact his new policy will have on the property market, but he acknowledges that only a small percentage of properties in Australia are sold to foreign residents.
On Friday morning, when Dutton was asked about the number of overseas migrants buying property in Australia, the Liberal leader could not answer.
"The number of foreign nationals buying a home in Australia is low, but despite this, it is one of the reasons for the overall housing shortage in Australia. When you combine all the factors, it's very important. ”
Dutton (Image source: Internet)
According to data from the Ministry of Finance, from July 2021 to June 2022, foreigners bought a total of 4,228 residential properties in Australia, of which new homes accounted for 52.1% of the total transactions, and the proportion of existing homes was 31.7%, about 1,350 units.
Under the current rules, foreign nationals are generally prohibited from buying an existing home in Australia, and temporary residents can apply to purchase an existing home as their primary residence, or they can apply to redevelop the property to increase the housing stock.
Carlos Cacho, chief economist at Jarden, said Dutton's cuts to permanent immigration have no impact on the economy or overall immigration numbers in the short term, but are detrimental in the long run.
(Image source: Internet)
Labour front-seat MP Bill Shorten also questioned Dutton's plan, calling it "like a display bag with slogans and Band-Aids".
"Labor has started to reduce the number of students coming to Australia, the fact is that the number of student visas has fallen by 35% in the last few months, and we are on track to halve the net number of overseas migrants from last year's peak."
Mr Dutton said it was "obvious" that a large number of overseas migrants were pushing Australians out of the housing market.
"We hope that Australians who currently live in tents and in the back seats of cars will be able to move into rental housing, rather than having a large number of international students rent in rental housing." "We don't mean to oppose international students, it's just that Australians have a higher priority to have a house to live in."
(Image source: Internet)
In the year to September 2023, there has been a surge in international students and temporary workers, bringing Australia's net migration to a record 548,000. The government forecasts that net migration will stabilize at 235,000 per year between 2026 and 2028.