Victoria tops list as best state or territory for migration

The national population has grown to 24.4 million, an increase of 1.6 per cent over the year, the largest annual rise since the 12 months to June 2014. Immigration contributed to 56 per cent of the population increase.

CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher said even though interstate migration nets to zero at a national level, it is still important when considering population growth across states and territories.

“In particular, interstate migration and overseas immigration have been the key drivers of housing demand,” Mr Kusher said.

“Whereas natural increase removes older people and adds younger people, interstate migration and overseas immigration brings a new person or family to a region of the country and these people need to be housed.”

The two most popular states for overseas migration are NSW and Victoria, accounting for 40.6 per cent and 35.4 per cent of overseas migrants.

“This isn’t really a surprise when you consider that those two economies are the strongest nationally,” Mr Kusher said.

Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory recording positive interstate migration, with Victoria recording historically high levels, while the other four states and territories had a loss for migration.

Mr Kusher suggested combing net interstate migration and net overseas migration to understand how the states and territories are growing.

Victoria showed the highest levels of migration at 44 per cent of total migration across the nation. This is followed by NSW at 34.5 per cent, Queensland at 3.5 per cent, with the remaining states and territories accounting for only 3.5 per cent of migration, a historic low. The Northern Territory is the only state or territory to record a loss from overall migration, losing 2,340 people.

“Migration trends show a clear preference for overseas migrants to settle in either NSW or Victoria while interstate migrants appear to be turning their backs on NSW and Western Australia, and choosing to move to Victoria and Queensland,” Mr Kusher said.

“NSW is likely to be less attractive for interstate migrants due to the high housing costs, while the ongoing weak housing and economic conditions are the main deterrents in WA.

“Victoria is particularly attractive to migrants because wages are similar to those in NSW, but housing is much cheaper while the economy is performing similarly strong. Queensland appears to be growing in popularity again largely due to the fact that housing is much cheaper than NSW and Victoria, and lifestyle housing markets in south-east Queensland seem to be seeing resurgent popularity.”