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Home prices have been falling in most of Australia, while continuing to grow in cheaper areas. Picture: Rohan Kelly<\/p>\n
Continued high migration and recent tax reforms could fuel a boom in prices across the bottom end of the housing market, one of the country\u2019s top property investors has claimed.<\/p>\n
Home prices in much of the country are currently falling<\/a>, but Nathan Birch, a 41-year-old who owns just shy of 400 homes, said a different dynamic was playing out in the country\u2019s cheapest areas.<\/p>\n The founder of investment group B.Invested said competition in this market was heating up because of rampant demand from recent overseas arrivals who had recently got permanent residency.<\/p>\n Mr Birch pointed to ABS stats showing the nation recorded its highest-ever intake of net permanent and long-term arrivals over January, surging past 57,000.<\/p>\n Net permanent and long-term arrivals peaked in January.<\/p>\n With India recently overtaking the UK and China as the primary source of migration, projections suggested another 260,000 to 300,000 migrants will enter the country over the next year.<\/p>\n As these arrivals transition to permanent residency, Mr Birch estimated 1.5 million new first-home buyers will be unleashed into a market where cheap listings are already scarce.<\/p>\n MORE: Migrant, in Aus as student, has 56 homes<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s supply and demand,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have lots of people who want to buy property and not enough stock. We haven\u2019t even seen the start of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Birch, a high-volume corporate buyer and buyer\u2019s agent who built much of his portfolio by securing properties under the $500,000 mark, said he has seen the results of higher demand from migration play out first hand.<\/p>\n \u201cI am getting gazumped on those $400,000 to $500,000 deals,\u201d he said, noting that buyers were overpaying to secure homes in cheaper suburbs in some instances.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n