A senior researcher at the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) says Australia’s capital cities are fast becoming unlivable due to years of record-breaking, unplanned mass migration.

IPA analysis of Office for National Statistics (ABS) net migration data has revealed where new arrivals are settling.

Dr Kevin You, senior researcher at the IPA, said: “Our cities are facing the pressure of record numbers of arrivals, with eight out of 10 new migrants settling in metropolitan areas.”

“The consequences are visible every day: record high rents and house prices, traffic jams and huge strain on social services.”

He said the current wave of migration was making Australians poorer.

“Every day, average Australians are feeling the pinch of money from the federal government’s lazy, migration-driven growth program. Australians, at an individual level, are in recession at the same time as they are facing a cost-of-living crisis and inflation.”

According to data, Sydney and Melbourne are the most popular migration destinations.

But do most of them settle in the suburbs?

In the case of Melbourne, the data shows that the majority choose – mainly – the city centre and the Monash, Wyndham and Dandenong areas.

The same can be said for Sydney – most people head to the city centre, but also to Parramatta, Strathfield-Burwood-Ashfield and the southern part of the eastern suburbs.

However, there is Randwick, home of UNSW, where many international students study.

About 29 per cent, or about 214,000, of the people who arrived in Australia in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 tax years settled in the greater Sydney area.

This was closely followed by the Greater Melbourne area, which absorbed 28 per cent (206,000 new arrivals) over the two years, while Australia’s net migration increased by a total of 732,011 people.

Demographer Bob Birrell, head of the Australian Population Research Institute, said: Herald Sun These figures mainly concern international students, who have a major impact on local rental markets.

“Our research shows that newly arrived migrants are by far the largest source of new demand for rental housing, far outweighing the number of locals leaving their homes or looking for new accommodation.”

Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan said Labor had “a million migrants in two years as Australians grappled with homelessness and a cost of living crisis”.

“Labor also changed visa rules to make it easier for migrants who received subsidies to work in regional Australia to leave their employers and move to our big cities, which increased pressure on housing and caused traffic congestion,” he said.

University sector representatives deny that the large number of international migrants is contributing to the housing shortage.

Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy cited research suggesting suburbs with large numbers of international students also have high vacancy rates.

“International students are not to blame for the housing crisis,” he argued.

“They make up four per cent of the private rental market and the suburbs where they tend to live have higher vacancy rates than the average in our big cities.”

“The problems with the availability and affordability of housing that we see in the real estate market are caused by supply problems resulting from years of government inaction and further exacerbated by the pandemic,” he stressed.

Albanian authorities have previously announced that they want to limit new student enrollments for 2025 as they seek to bring immigration under control and return it to pre-pandemic levels.

Educational institutions have expressed concerns that the limits would lead to both job losses and reduced revenues.

Victorian Finance Minister Tim Pallas has argued that the federal government’s caps on the number of international students at the country’s universities – and other educational institutions – will devastate Victoria’s economy.

He called for a review of the reforms being promoted and warned that restricting access to international students could have unintended consequences.

It is estimated that around 30 per cent of the country’s international students study in Victoria.

Education is the state’s top export, generating $14.8 billion in revenue in 2023 and supporting about 63,000 local jobs.