Blaming immigrants for high house prices? Look at the other ‘I’ word

February 20, 2026 — 5:00am

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Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.

Yes, those moving to Australia add to demand for housing (after all, they need somewhere to stay).

But last financial year, nearly two-thirds of these people were on temporary visas and half were international students. They might push up rents, especially in the capital cities where they tend to move, but these migrants rarely look to buy a place when they arrive, and many leave once their visa expires.

We also know they contribute a lot when they’re here. Migrants do the jobs many of us don’t want to (from hospital and healthcare work to hospitality shifts) and contribute more in tax than they tend to benefit from government services, as well as filling skills shortages in areas such as construction: the very thing we need to build more houses.

Basically, yes, we can cut down our migrant intake. But it comes with a big price tag, from higher taxes to pay for things like caring for our ageing population to worker shortages.

And if we’re focusing on dampening house prices? There are much bigger fish to fry.

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Fresh analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service shows it’s actually investors we should be pointing the finger at — and perhaps more crucially, the tax system that drives them to behave the way they do.

Property investors are buying twice as many homes as first home buyers, according to the research, with average loan sizes about $100,000 higher than those of first home buyers. It’s no........

© The Sydney Morning Herald