Victoria has Australia’s fastest population growth

The latest data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown that Victoria’s population is growing at the fastest rate in the country.

Victoria had a growth rate of 1.7%, gaining an additional 97,500 citizens in the year to March 2015. New South Wales and Western Australia has the next highest population growth at 1.4%. See below for the population growth rates of other States and Territories reproduced from ABS data.

	Population at end Mar qtr 2015	Change over previous year	Change over previous year
PRELIMINARY DATA	‘000	‘000	%

New South Wales	7 596.6	101.2	1.4
Victoria	5 914.9	97.5	1.7
Queensland	4 766.7	61.1	1.3
South Australia	1 696.2	13.9	0.8
Western Australia	2 587.0	35.3	1.4
Tasmania	516.1	1.5	0.3
Northern Territory	243.8	0.5	0.2
Australian Capital Territory	389.7	4.8	1.3
Australia(a)	23 714.3	316.0	1.4

(a) Includes Other Territories comprising Jervis Bay Territory, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

The majority of population growth occurs in Australia’s capital cities.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has projected that Melbourne’s population will exceed Sydney’s by 2052 on two of the three scenarios modelled.

Under the “high fertility, overseas migration and life expectancy” scenario, Melbourne’s population would be 9.193 million by the middle of the century and Sydney’s 8.431 million.

Under the “medium fertility, overseas migration and life expectancy” scenario, Melbourne’s population would be 8.162 million, and Sydney’s 8.124 million.

Under the “low fertility, overseas migration and life expectancy” scenario, Melbourne’s population would be 7.353 million and Sydney’s 7.716 million.

Whether or not Melbourne becomes Australia’s largest city by 2052, one thing is clear, all of those people coming to Melbourne are going to need somewhere to live. The demand for housing in Melbourne is going to continue to increase and so are the prices of well located property.