Australians Are Leaving This City in Droves!
According to Business Insider, Australia's population growth continued to accelerate over the 12 months to September last year, driven largely by migration—most of which was fuelled by student visa applications.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australia's population grew by 395,600 during this period, an increase of 1.63%, bringing the total population to 24.7 million.
In the third quarter of last year alone, the population rose by 103,900, or 0.42%. For the full year, net overseas migration added 250,100 people, accounting for 63.2% of Australia's total population growth. Meanwhile, natural increase (births minus deaths) contributed the remaining 36.8% of growth, falling to 145,500—below the average of previous years.
While Australia's total population continues to climb, a closer look at the country's individual cities reveals subtle shifts beginning to emerge in how the population is distributed.
Sydney, Australia's largest city with a population of around 5 million, has long been world-renowned for its pleasant climate and beautiful scenery. Yet a careful look at the population figures in recent years (Sydney gains an average of 85 residents per day, but loses 129. Since 1971, Sydney has recorded a net local population loss of nearly 720,000 people) starts to reveal a few telltale signs.
Let's hear what Sydney residents have to say:
Newtown - People often walk barefoot along the grubby King Street, rain or shine. It's a real melting pot—students, hippies, fashionistas and more. Even the shop windows carry signs reading "Keep Newtown Weird and Safe".
McMahons Point - This place is absolutely packed every New Year, and on weekends you can barely find anywhere to park. And when the tide comes in, the beach at McMahons Point gets flooded.
In recent years, the influx of overseas migrants and the departure of local-born residents have significantly reshaped the city's population make-up. According to ABS data, in 1976 fewer than 25% of Sydney's residents were overseas migrants. Forty years on, Sydney residents born overseas now make up close to 40%.
"Fleeing" Sydney
Among the tens of thousands leaving Sydney, Australia's third-largest city, Brisbane, has become their most desirable destination, thanks to its distinctive outdoor lifestyle, diverse and dynamic urban communities and the wealth of natural assets nearby. The remaining half relocated to other parts of New South Wales.
Sydney sociologist Mark McCrindle notes that young people choose to come to Sydney for their education and to begin their lives, only to move away again as they get older. With population outflow exceeding inflow over the long term, this reflects the city's gradually weakening appeal in terms of attracting people.
By region, the most severe population loss is occurring in Sydney's western suburbs; by age, most residents choosing to leave Sydney are between 25 and 44 or between 0 and 14 years old, meaning that those moving out are typically whole families relocating, rather than retirees seeking a quieter life elsewhere.
Reasons for leaving
Some analysts point to Sydney's soaring house prices as one of the main causes of local population loss. A recent annual international housing affordability survey ranked Australia as the third least affordable country in the world for housing.
Independent think tank the Grattan Institute has released a recent analysis showing a sharp decline in home ownership rates among young Australians and lower-income groups. Last week, property data company CoreLogic released its national property report, showing that Australian house prices have fallen 0.8% since September 2016. Sydney's housing market is the weakest, with prices falling 2.4% in the last quarter. Even so, Sydney's median house price remains well above A$1,000,000.
Beyond housing, respondents felt that the persistently high cost of living, worsening traffic congestion, an increasingly difficult job market and mounting pressures of all kinds are all issues that Sydney residents simply cannot avoid.
While strong population growth helps boost employment and has underpinned economic activity since the GFC, there is growing concern that Australia's infrastructure is currently being built too slowly, leading to overcrowded schools, hospitals and public transport, rising house prices, slow wage growth and other economic pressures.