A tent city is growing in the heart of Brisbane amid Australia’s immigration-fuelled housing crisis.
Photos taken by concerned resident William Ridley show squalid scenes in parkland near Roma Street in the central business district of the Queensland capital.
“So-called homeless camping in our parks,” Mr Ridley said.
“A lot of discarded syringes lying around. Is this the beginning of the San Francisco model for Australian cities?”
Rubbish can be seen strewn between numerous tents which surround deserted gazebos and footpaths in the public park.
Brisbane’s home prices are up 63% since the start of the Covid pandemic in March 2023 and are now on par with Melbourne’s, MacroBusiness reported last week.
PropTrack economist Eleanor Creagh said the price growth was being driven by undersupply.
“While the expectation remains that rates will move lower later this year, we continue to see that demand/supply imbalance and prices continuing to rise in the months ahead,” she said.
According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures, Brisbane’s population grew by 81,220 in the year to June 2023, a growth rate of 3.1%. 51,801 were overseas migrants, 15,332 moved from other parts of Australia, and there was a natural increase of 14,087 people.
These figures are mirrored nationwide, with Australia accepting 737,000 immigrants over the same period, a net gain of 518,000.
Last month Big Four financial services firm Deloitte described Australia’s housing market as “uncomfortably tight” due to demand far exceeding supply.
“The root of Australia’s housing crisis is that supply is failing to keep up with rising demand. Demand has escalated in line with strong population growth driven by record high net overseas arrivals through 2023,” Deloitte said in a note in March.
“Recent growth in housing commencements has failed to keep up with this population growth, let alone start to address the structural undersupply.”
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has also blamed strong population growth driven by record-high immigration for the rebound in housing prices and the tight rental market.
In its latest Statement of Monetary Policy the RBA said that prices had increased across most capital cities and regional areas, while rental vacancies sit at or near record lows in most areas.
“The rebound in housing prices reflected a combination of stronger demand for established housing (partly due to strong population growth) and a limited supply of dwellings,” the report stated.
“Rental vacancy rates remain low in most areas. This is consistent with a limited supply of new dwellings, strong population growth and a shift in preferences during the pandemic towards more residential space that has led to a lower average household size.”
The most recent ABS statistics show that Australia’s population grew by 2.5% in the year ending September 30, 2023, an increase of 659,800 people. Net overseas migration was responsible for 83% of that growth.
Concern about the tent city come after a new poll showed that 74% of Australians want lower immigration, including 49% who want a “drastic” cut, while only 14% support maintaining the current high levels.
In San Francisco, which has also been plagued by a homelessness crisis causing tent cities to spring up in parks, nearly 20% of homes sold for a loss during the three months ending February 29.
A local real estate agent said rising crime and the resulting exodus of marquee stores and tech companies from the city was responsible for the fall in the market.
“San Francisco has lost some of its appeal post-pandemic. A lot of tech employers and big-name retailers have moved out of the city, and some of my clients have reported they’re leaving the area because they don’t feel as safe as they used to,” Christine Chang told RedFin.
