Visa processing speeds up
Some interested 'tidbits' in the Australian Financial Review today, where the top four lead articles this morning each concerned the immigration revamp.
Source: AFR
There are currently more than 960,000 visa applications currently stuck in a backlog, including over 560,000 from applicants based outside Australia, according to the interview in the AFR lead article.
58,000 skilled worker visas and 14,000 temporary visa applications will immediately be fast-tracked to help alleviate the skills shortage.
And a massive 623,000 visa applications have been processed over the past seven weeks since June 1, with the average processing time plunging from 11 months to four.
This aligns with my thinking that the coming summer months are going to be extraordinarily busy in Australia (except, perhaps, for the Christmas period when many international students are typically overseas).
Rents on the rise
In related news, CoreLogic recorded another sharp -24 per cent year-on-year drop in rental market listings.
Source: CoreLogic
Rents continued to rise, to be up +2.9 per cent over the quarter, and +9.5 per cent over the year, with signs of an acceleration in June (+0.9 per cent).
Source: CoreLogic
SQM Research reported a decline in regional asking rents last month, hinting at a potential reversal in the treechange/seachange pandemic shift.
SQM recorded a total of 37,000 rental vacancies for June, suggesting major pressure on rental markets as visa processing is fast-tracked from here to reduce the massive backlog of applications.
