Yes, the population increase in recent years is higher than the long run average, but it comes after immigration was halted during the pandemic.

The net outcome of the two? Australia’s population is actually ever so slightly below where it would have been if the pandemic hadn’t happened.

One of the biggest concerns has been house prices. It is claimed that we are not building enough homes to meet the increase in population.

The data shows that the population has increased by 16% in the last 10 years. That means we need to build 16% more dwellings just to meet that increase. But we have actually built 19% more houses. We are building homes at a faster rate than the population is increasing.

More housing supply would help make housing more affordable. But a lack of supply is not the problem. It is an increase in demand from the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing that is driving house prices higher. Cashed up investors are outbidding first home buyers and locking people out of home ownership rates. If we tackle these two tax concessions we can make housing more affordable and raise tens of billions of dollars.