A report released last week by the Student Accommodation Council also found the development of new purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) had kept pace with the growth in international students. The growth in professionally managed student housing has directly aligned with the increase in international students since 2015.
Student Accommodation Council Executive Director Torie Brown said the continuous scapegoating of international students for the housing crisis does not align with the facts.
“We keep hearing that international students are to blame for the housing crisis, but this does not reflect reality,” Ms Brown said.
“International students only make up six per cent of the rental market – heavily weighted towards CBDs – with 73 per cent of local government areas having an international student concentration of less than one per cent.
“We’ve previously released data that shows increasing rents do not correlate with rising student numbers. Rents began to skyrocket in 2020, when there were no international students arriving in Australia.
“Despite claims that student accommodations only houses international students, roughly 30 per cent of students living in student accommodation are domestic students, in particular those moving from the regions for study.
“If the government and the opposition want to have a release valve for rental homes, they should work with the sector to unlock PBSA which takes both domestic and international students out of the rental market,” Ms Brown said.
“There are a range of price points across the sector, rent is all-inclusive and covers utilities, amenities including gyms, internet and social activities.”
Research from Mandala for the Student Accommodation Council, released last week, showed that visa caps limiting international students to 270,000 per year would have only lowered their share of the rental by less than one per cent.
The impact on weekly mean metropolitan rents would also have only been marginally impacted by 0.8 per cent on average- or just $5 a week. This reduction would not have been felt in outer-suburban areas popular with families and retirees.
“The growth of student accommodation has matched the rise in international student numbers, easing housing market pressure by keeping students out of competition with families for private rentals,” Ms Brown said.
“Purpose-built student accommodation has also been a critical piece of the housing piece for domestic students, particularly those who have travelled into capital cities to study at a major university. Unlike the US and UK, Australian students have tended to live at home and studied at universities in their home cities, although we have seen a growing cohort of domestic students favouring student accommodation in recent years.
“Purpose-built student accommodation offers professionally managed housing with 24/7 security, support services and fixed rents that include all utilities. It provides a safe, secure and reliable option for young people facing challenges in the rental market.
“We need to address decades of structural failures across our housing markets and not unfairly pin the blame on a single group,” she said.
An earlier report from the SAC found that of the 556 local government areas in Australia, only 13 have a percentage of international students over 10 per cent. It also found 73 per cent of LGAs have an international student concentration of less than one per cent.
From Dec-19 to Dec-23, median weekly rent increased by 30 per cent. Over the same period, student visa arrivals decreased by 13 per cent. This suggests limited correlation between rents and student visa arrivals.
