Forced out of Sydney

The land rationing policies of the New South Wales Government have resulted in the price of a house on Sydney's outskirts to balloon out at $500,000 each instead of the figure of about $200,000 which it would be if left to market forces. The $200,000 amount is made up of $100,000 to build the house, $50,000 to service the land, $30,000 for land on the outskirts converted to residential and the rest in taxes and miscellaneous. Due to the artificial land scarcity caused by the Government's land rationing, the land component costs ten times as much as it otherwise might be. As a result of these policies many people (especially the young) face the prospect of never being able to own their own home. Wendell Cox's analysis of population movements shows the results of the NSW State Government's foolish strategies:

New South Wales Exodus Continues (31 March 2007)
Faced with some of the most unaffordable housing in the world, New South Wales residents continue to move away. According to data just released by the Australian Bureau of Research, 172,500 New South Wales residents have moved to other parts of the nation during the 2000s. This is an annual average out-migration of 24,600, up strongly from the 14,900 annual loss rate of the 1990s (when housing prices were also escalating relative to incomes). Approximately 24,000 people moved away from New South Wales in 2006 to other parts of Australia. Because the Sydney area comprises the majority of the state's population, it seems likely that it has suffered most of the out-migration. The 172,500 loss is larger than the population of the city of Liverpool, one of Sydney's larger local government authorities.

Queensland has been the beneficiary of the New South Wales losses. During the 2000s, Queensland has gained 210,600 internal migrants, an annual average of 30,100. This nearly equals the strong 1990s in-migration, which averaged 31,000 annually.

Outside of Queensland, only Victoria has posted a gain in internal migration during the 2000s, at a modest 4,700. Western Australia lost 4,900 movers to other parts of Australia, though in the last year gained 3,100. Tasmania has lost 1,600 during the decade. More substantial losses have occurred in the Australian Capital Territory (8,800), the Northern Territory (11,800) and South Australia (19,000).

Wendell Cox
Demographia | Wendell Cox Consultancy - St. Louis Missouri-Illinois metropolitan region