Overseas Students Aren’t Behind Rent Rises

Analysis by the Reserve Bank of Australia shows that, contrary to popular opinion, overseas students are not having a big impact on rent increases.

The analysis says the post-COVID international student boom only increased rents and inflation “marginally”.

“Models of the housing market used by the RBA suggest that a 50,000 increase in population would raise private rents by around 0.5% compared with a baseline projection,” it says.

Almost a quarter of international students live with family or friends, 15% in student accommodation, 3% in a homestay and 2% in ‘other’ accommodation.

The Federal government put a cap on the number of arriving international students last year to ease pressure on the private rental market.

It announced this week that it will allow universities to increase international student numbers in 2026 if they can demonstrate the delivery of additional student accommodation.

The Student Accommodation Council has welcomed the announcement with Executive Director Torie Brown saying every student in a student accommodation building is a student, not competing in the private rental sector.