Western Australia continues to have the fastest growing population in the country, increasing by 2.4 per cent or 55,800 people in the year to 30 June 2011, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released today.
The vast majority of the growth is coming from overseas migration, with 30,805 people arriving in WA over the 12 month period.
Natural increase was at 18,870, while interstate migration was 6,163.
Australia’s overall population increased by 1.4 per cent to 22.6 million, with overseas migration counting for 53 per cent of the growth.
Urban Development Institute of Australia CEP Debra Goostrey said with the high growth and low construction rates, WA was falling well behind the required levels of housing.
“While market conditions are weak at the moment for residential housing, the continuing strength of overseas migration demonstrates the underpinning conditions in WA are strong and that will feed into strengthening the sector,” Ms Goostrey said.
“While we have been bumping along the bottom for a while, there is an expectation the market will move into the upward swing cycle in 2012, especially in population growth remains solid.
“With the resource projects that are in the pipeline and the need for skilled migration to increase, there is the potential that we will see population rises similar to the twelve months to June 2009 where we recorded an increase of 67,400.
“That would place an added strain on housing supply.
“With 378,751 people in WA in the 25‐35 age group, there are also a lot of people who are likely to become first home owners over the next few years.”