Population update 2025 – Expect 500,000 new people per annum

Strong population growth will increase housing demand, both to buy and rent.

Australia’s population growth rose by some 550,000 last year.

This likens to a 10,000 increase in the country’s population per week.

This is 50% more than the annual average population increase over the past five years.

The big winners – when comparing the 2024 population increase with the past five years' annual average – are New South Wales and Victoria.

This is because these states attract the lion's share of Australia’s immigration.

Queensland and Western Australia also attract a high level of overseas migrants.

These states also attracted almost all the net interstate migration – that is internal population movements within Australia – during 2024.

So, in summary, Victoria increased by 165,100 new residents last year; New South Wales up by 143,200 people; Queensland by 125,800 and Western Australia by 81,400.

This equates to 3,200 people per week in Victoria; 2,750 in New South Wales; 2,400 in Queensland and 1,550 in Western Australia.

These four states captured 94% of Australia’s population growth during 2024.

Looking forward

The latest estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggest that Australia’s population is expected to increase by 470,000 new people per annum over the next five years.

This is based on the high projection outlook, which for the last decade has been trending closer to reality than the typically used medium series.

Over the next five years (by 2030), Australia’s population is expected to grow by 2.3 million more residents, lifting the total population from 27.5 million to just shy of 30 million.

We will need to build another Perth – in terms of population size – to accommodate this projected growth.

There will be the need to build some 1.2 million new dwellings – 240,000 each year – over the next five years to accommodate this expected increase in people.

Some 80% of this growth is expected to settle in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

When including Western Australia these four states will likely hold some 90% of the population increase between now and 2030.

About Michael Matusik Michael is director of independent property advisory Matusik Property Insights. He is independent, perceptive and to the point; has helped over 550 new residential developments come to fruition and writes his insightful Matusik Missive