Coalition to link immigration limits to new builds as Taylor says ‘migration has run miles ahead of housing’

The Coalition will directly link Australia’s temporary immigration intake to the number of new homes built around the country, using housing completion figures as a hard ceiling for overseas arrivals.

The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, will outline the plan to dramatically cut the number of migrants arriving into the country in his budget reply speech on Thursday night, while also promising a new $5bn housing infrastructure fund and a weakening of the national construction code to speed up building and reduce cost.

“This is about mass migration running ahead of the homes, roads, hospitals, schools and services Australia can provide,” Taylor will tell parliament, according to a preview of the speech.

Under a Coalition government, the minister for housing would be required to give an annual report on the number of new homes completed in the previous 12 months. That number would be used to limit net overseas migration into the country.

Net overseas migration is the difference between the number of people arriving and staying in Australia for longer than 12 months and the number of long-term and permanent departures. The figure is difficult for governments to directly control due to traveller behaviour.

Last year there were 172,657 new houses completed around the country, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data. But net overseas migration was higher, at 306,000 in 2024-25, meaning rules to limit migrants coming into the country would have to be made tougher.

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If housing construction speeds up, a Coalition government would lift its “cap”.

“Under Labor, migration has run miles ahead of housing and that puts pressure on rents, house prices and on every young Australian trying to get ahead,” Taylor will say.

He will use the speech to illustrate the housing crisis for first-time buyers and renters.

“Australians can see the housing crisis every weekend.”

“They see it in the line around the block at rental inspections, they see it when the rent goes up and they see it when young people who have worked hard and saved hard are told the dream of home ownership has moved further out of reach.”

The Coalition also plans to further tighten temporary migration, including through tougher rules for international students, and prioritisation of quality in skilled visa categories.

The plans are in line with leaked internal documents obtained by Guardian Australia earlier this month, which forecast moves by Taylor to reduce net overseas migration to between 150,000 and 200,000 per year.