Student surge incoming
Bloomberg reported today how Hong Kong is tragically becoming dead in the water as an international destination.
Hong Kong experienced its greatest population decline in more than six decades, as more than 120,000 residents left for overseas due to their rights and freedoms being curtailed.
Student visa applications for Australia, meanwhile, are now exploding, up to an average of 10,000 per week.
It looks like a backlog of tens of thousands of Australian visa applications are set to be fast-tracked from here to tackle the skills shortage and take pressure off labour market capacity.
There are reportedly more than 900,000 visa applications outstanding, with over half a million of the applicants presently located overseas.
Most new international arrivals - and especially international students - are renters initially, and overseas "for rent" searches have suddenly surged to be 75 per cent higher than their June 2020 lows.
Source: PropTrack
Some further pressures on rental markets ahead.
Lending buffers too tight
In obliquely related news, from the mortgage broking space, from next month loan approvals will be based on an implied cash rate of 5.35 per cent, which is far, far too high, and crippling property market activity.
Recently discussed further here.
