Overview
- Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn told a parliamentary committee his personal preference is for migration in the order of 180,000 people a year to support affordability and planning.
- CBA later clarified he was referring to the permanent intake, even as recent net overseas migration has been much higher.
- Federal budget papers forecast net overseas migration of about 260,000 this financial year, easing to roughly 225,000 later in the decade.
- The Opposition is considering cutting migration by about 100,000 from current levels, with international students flagged as a possible focus and details expected by Christmas.
- Comyn warned housing credit is expanding at roughly 6% annually and probably needs to slow, and he described the expanded 5% deposit scheme as a very small factor in recent price growth.