Australia currently hosts over 700,000 international students, marking a record high. However, in the three months leading up to February, over 50,000 visa applications were rejected, also reaching an unprecedented peak.

Immigration expert Abul Rizvi told Jamie Burnett on Perth Live, “It’s [student immigration] undoubtedly impacting [the housing market]. But it’s impacting different parts of the housing market, so after students, the next biggest cohort of arrivals have been visitors extending their stay, and working holiday makers.”

“We need to think about who’s coming and what type of accommodation they use. The level of net migration is too high and it’s putting pressure on all sorts of things. The government is desperately trying to reduce net migration, unfortunately, these things take time.”

“My theory is the government will dramatically crank up the visa applications fees, and I think that would be the wrong thing to do. We should be targeting the best students, who are going to study in areas of our long-term need, so if they do stay we benefit from that,” Mr Rizvi said.

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