01 April 2015
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures recently released on migration to and from Australian cities demonstrate a nett loss from Sydney of 14,900 people while Melbourne and Brisbane had nett gains, says the Urban Taskforce.
“It seems that Sydney’s rising housing costs are leading to a steady flow of people out of the city,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “Last financial year according to the ABS, Sydney had a nett loss through internal migration of 14,900 people while Melbourne gained 4,000 people and Brisbane gained 3,500 people.”
“There is a steady stream of people leaving Sydney with most of these people going to Melbourne or Brisbane. It is important that strategic planning for population growth in NSW understands the nett flow of internal migration. The recently released data from the ABS now gives planners more accurate data on internal migration.”
“The population growth projections for NSW currently assume a nett migration out of the state of 20,000 people. Last year this was only 6,900 which implies that the attraction of jobs in NSW is overriding house costs.”
“The nett loss from Sydney of 14,900 includes those moving interstate (6,900) as well as those moving to areas outside the Sydney metropolitan area (8,000). It will be important to track where the movement is within the state.”
“The proposed Greater Sydney Commission will need to take some accountability for minimising the flow of people out of the metropolitan area. The main demographic group that moves out of the city is the 25 to 35 year olds who are the very people that a dynamic city needs within its workforce.”
“The best way to reverse the outflow of people from Sydney is to increase the supply of new housing through a planning system that encourages growth.”
See ABS graph on NET regional migration, Greater Capital City Statistics Areas, Australia, 2013-14 below:
*Image source: ABS website
