Where is housing demand the strongest in our capital cities? Cameron Kusher

Australia’s rate of population growth is continuing to ramp up, placing consistent upwards pressure on demand for housing.  The macro level demographic data is only up to date to December last year and population estimates for smaller regions such as council areas and suburbs, has only just been released current to June 2012.

At a high level, based on the December 2012 demographic statistics, Australia’s population increased by 1.8% over the 2012 calendar year; the highest rate of population since December 2009.

At a lower level, it is clear that the vast majority of Australia’s population growth continues to be most concentrated within the capital cities.  About 66% of Australia’s population reside within one of the eight capital cities, however, the overt the 2011/12 financial year the capital cities accounted for 75% of the population growth.

The rate of population growth is quite diverse from city to city and region to region.  Perth is recording the highest rate of population growth at 3.6% over the 2011/12 financial year.  Importantly, the City of Perth accounts for just 8.4% of Australia’s total population but over is attracting 18% of the population growth.

Similarly, Australia’s third largest city, Brisbane, is home to 9.7% of Australia’s population but is recording 12.1% of the nation’s population growth.

At the other end of the spectrum is Tasmania.  The capital city, Hobart, is seeing its population rise by just 0.3% while the population across regional Tasmania is absolutely flat with a 0.0% change over the year.  Not much demand for housing there.

The maps and tables below provide a good overview about where the trends for housing demand have been most evident over the past decade.