More coverage of Marian Tupy’s immigration paper, and Peter Tulip on housing

Australia’s shortage of homes is not an inevitable consequence of immigration, but instead the result of not enough dwellings being built, a report released by the pro-free-market Centre for Independent Studies has found.

The research paper suggests that while the intake of migrants might add to price pressures in some circumstances, the main driver of high prices is housing supply.

“The strongest version of the anti-immigration housing argument says more people always mean higher housing costs,” author Marian L Tupy said.

“The research evidence does not support that strong claim,” Tupy said.

“Population growth alone does not produce today’s housing shortage. The shortage appears when governments ration land use, delay approvals, cap density in high-demand areas, and then act surprised when prices rise.”

Despite requiring homes to live in, skilled migrants also fill crucial roles as engineers, planners, surveyors, architects and project managers, the report says.

Tupy said planning reforms were the most effective way of getting more homes built quickly.

He pointed to 2016 reforms in Auckland, which allowed for increased housing density across large parts of the city. Six years after the change, rents were between 22 and 35 per cent lower than they would have been otherwise, one study found.

“More people do increase demand for housing. But the evidence is clear: Prices rise most sharply where supply is slow, constrained or blocked,” Tupy wrote.

The paper recommends making it easier for skilled migrants to enter Australia – particularly those who work in the housing sector

The supply-side nutters at the Centre for Independent Studies have produced “research” showing that “migrants aren’t to blame for the housing crisis”. Instead, the CIS argues that Australia’s housing shortage is “the result of not enough dwellings being built”:

“Population growth alone does not produce today’s housing shortage”, claimed CIS author Marian L Tupy. “The shortage appears when governments ration land use, delay approvals, cap density in high-demand areas, and then act surprised when prices rise”.