{"id":25125,"date":"2020-05-07T15:54:33","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T03:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertynoise.co.nz\/au\/?p=25125"},"modified":"2020-05-07T15:54:44","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T03:54:44","slug":"what-does-zero-immigration-mean-for-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertynoise.co.nz\/au\/what-does-zero-immigration-mean-for-property\/","title":{"rendered":"What does zero immigration mean for property?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PHOTO: Immigration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Australian property market has long relied on immigration to fuel its growth, and that has come to a standstill.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Based on the latest government forecasts, the number of long-term immigrants into Australia could drop by almost 300,000 in the coming years, spelling trouble for certain areas of the Australian property market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the federal government predicting that immigration will fall by up to 85 per cent in the coming 12 months alone, that could mean little growth in the short-term. But once the borders reopen, things could change dramatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SMATS chairman Steve Douglas said the slowdown in immigration had affected specific segments of the market more than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’ve said for the last 25 years that the key to Australia\u2019s success as a property market has been our population growth,\u201d Mr Douglas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith our borders closed, intended migrants haven\u2019t been able to come in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a bit of a surge of expatriates coming back, but they may or may not stay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Douglas said the fall in student numbers had been particularly telling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShort-term and student accommodation are probably the hardest hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnything like Airbnb has been fuelled by the tourism industry and that\u2019s flattened out to basically zero, particularly in CBD Melbourne where there are many students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing tens of thousands of students stuck abroad and not being able to come back to Australia to continue their studies and forced to shift to online learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Douglas said there would be some short-term ramifications on the back of the tight border controls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone who did not get back to Australia or migrate prior to March is going to have trouble getting into the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s very limited flights, there’s very strict rules and you have to go into isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s difficult to move your furnishings and all these sorts of things, so I think we’re going to have a temporary reduction in population growth as migrants, in particular, find it very difficult to travel and move\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Melbourne hit hard<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aussie Property senior property manager Laura Scott said leasing transactions had largely halted in the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melbourne CBD market due to Australia\u2019s borders being closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Scott said this short-term phenomenon was driving down prices and pushing up vacancies, but not everywhere was impacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe vacancy rate for this area is larger than we have seen before and we have had to drop rents dramatically,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(But) outer suburbs of Melbourne are leasing well, usually leased within the month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immigration boom?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the short-term halt to immigration, Mr Douglas said he believed this could lead to a boom in new arrivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we’re going to have a kick up where immigration is going to accelerate faster and largely because of the fact that you’ll have the pent-up demand from those that didn’t arrive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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