Foreign student cap to have ‘little effect’ on housing

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Foreign student cap to have ‘little effect’ on housing

Limiting the number of international university students coming to Australia will not solve housing supply issues, the federal government’s property affordability boss says.

Chair of the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz said plans to let in 53,000 fewer foreign students from 2025 would not make houses easier to access.

The federal government in August announced it would set a cap of 270,000 international students as a bid to reduce migration and ease pressure on the housing sector.

But in an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Ms Lloyd-Hurwitz said the cap would not solve the issue.

“It’s really hard for us to see how capping international student numbers could make very much of a dent at all on the housing system,” she said.

“It would seem to be fairly damaging to our second-biggest export industry and probably has very little effect on freeing up housing.”

Universities would be able to increase the number of foreign pupils they can take in, but only if they increase student housing.

It’s estimated university students make up just four per cent of renters in Australia.

Ms Lloyd-Hurwitz said while there might be other reasons for why the number of university students coming from overseas would need to be limited, housing was not one of them.

“It is not the case that international students are crowding out renters in our cities, that’s just simply not true,” she said.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said foreign student numbers needed to be reduced.

“We have seen record numbers of international students … we will wait and see what the government’s measures actually lead to,” he told ABC Radio on Thursday.

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