New migrant communities reshape Australian housing markets
Foreign demand for Australian housing is continuing to evolve, with Iranian migrants emerging as a notable buyer group in parts of Sydney’s northwest growth corridor.
Agents report that Iranians settling in Australia are now among several rapidly expanding communities purchasing homes in specific suburban pockets, particularly in the Hills District. This shift forms part of broader changes in migration patterns and buyer profiles as record population growth flows into new residential developments.
For decades, discussions about overseas purchasers have centred on buyers from China, India, Europe and south-east Asia. Recent activity suggests the composition of new arrivals acquiring homes is widening to include Iran, a Middle Eastern nation of almost 90 million people.
In Box Hill, a major house-and-land project at 33–39 Terry Road has drawn significant interest from Iranian-born buyers, according to sales agent Plus Notable. Of the roughly 50 house-and-land packages sold so far, about 45 have gone to purchasers who have migrated from Iran, with most buying to live in the properties rather than as investors.
The developer has released 85 of 175 lots to date, with Iranian buyers making up about 90% of sales so far. The estate is largely made up of freestanding four-bedroom homes with backyards, aimed at family households.
“They all already know Box Hill,” Franky Tjhin, sales agent at Plus Notable, said in a news.com.au report. “Most of our buyers were not born in Australia.”
The Box Hill project adjoins a planned town centre and includes land reserved for a large childcare facility, features that agents say are drawing interest from family buyers. Tjhin said Iranian purchasers are often seeking fixed-price house-and-land packages, where a 5% deposit is payable upfront and the balance is not due until construction is completed. For many, this structure provides cost certainty and simplifies finance planning.
The rise in Iranian demand is occurring against a backdrop of historically high migration into Australia. Updated Australian Bureau of Statistics data show net overseas migration reached 305,569 in the 2024–25 financial year, the third-highest annual intake on record after the preceding two years. Over the first three financial years of the Albanese government, net migration totalled about 1.27 million people, according to analysis by think tank Institute of Public Affairs (IPA).
The IPA’s review found this equated to more than 1,160 net arrivals per day, with migration accounting for 73% of Australia’s population growth in the year to June 2025. It also noted that annual net overseas migration during this period was roughly four times the average level recorded from 1945 to the end of the Howard government.
Kevin You, senior fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, said the overall scale of migration was placing strain on housing and infrastructure capacity. “This is uncontrolled mass migration on steroids,” he said, adding thatthat the intake was unsustainable and that the federal government had not adequately planned for the associated housing demand.
Other commentators maintain that many new arrivals are easing some pressure on the established market by purchasing newly built homes or off-the-plan stock, including in masterplanned estates such as those in Box Hill and the wider northwest corridor. For lenders and brokers, such trends underscore the importance of understanding the specific preferences of migrant buyers, including deposit structures, construction timeframes and the appeal of integrated community facilities.
Tjhin said the concentration of interest at the Box Hill development was shaped less by nationality and more by shared family and lifestyle requirements. “This particular project just seems to meet what a lot of these families are looking for,” he pointed out.
Official migration data by country provide only a partial picture of Iran’s role in Australia’s housing market. The ABS last released detailed figures on Iranian-born residents in 2023, reporting 85,830 people born in Iran living in Australia at that time. Since then, federal government figures show Iran has regularly appeared among the top three source countries for Australian Humanitarian visas, with more than 1,600 visas granted to Iranian nationals in 2023–24.
For mortgage professionals, the emergence of Iranian buyers in specific growth areas illustrates how changing migration flows can quickly reshape local demand for new housing, influencing both product design and lending opportunities in these corridors.
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