Big Australia to Huge Australia

There was yet another thumping (by-)election result yesterday - this time a historic win in Aston - and once again swinging hard to Labor, which will be causing some serious angst in Liberal circles, and possibly even in time a leadership spill.

Zooming out and looking at the bigger picture, the Labor Party has now assumed a position of total dominance across Federal and State politics, with very little prospect of a close election contest between now and 2028.

In recent years, more and more we are hearing policy conversations discussing the journey towards a huge Australian population of 100 million.

The new ALP government has wasted no time at all in dialling up immigration to record highs.

Total population growth is now running at around 600,000, roughly double what we'd been used to in the post-resources boom years.

For whatever reason, the unions don't seem too fazed by this, and more broadly PM Albanese and Jim Chalmers seemingly don't believe that high immigration has a deleterious effect on wages growth or productivity.

Whether or not an Aussie population soaring to 100 million is actually a good thing is a bit of a moot point at the moment since Labor will set population policy without any serious contest for at least the next 6 years...and possibly 9 or 12.

Property news

There were more strong auction results in Sydney yesterday, and now we head into the Easter break and the cooler Autumn months, so tight stock levels will likely decline even further over the months ahead.

PropTrack again noted rising housing prices for March - largely unreported - with unit prices in Sydney leading the way, increasing by +0.7 per cent over the month, and Brisbane units also again in positive territory.

Overall, PropTrack sees prices only -3 per cent lower than a year ago, but still +30 per cent higher than pre-pandemic lockdown levels.

• Also read:Renter’s Nightmare: Are Australia’s Rental Markets Spiralling Out of Control? | Property Insiders [Video]
• Also read:Guide to Downsizing a House in Australia
• Also read:Latest Asking Prices State by State | April Total Housing Listings fell by 6.4%
• Also read:This week’s Australian Property Market Update – Latest Data, State by State May 7th 2024
• Also read:How to Save for a House Deposit in Australia