Australians are fleeing unaffordable big cities as immigration hits near-record highs, adding to housing pressures and pushing the country’s population past 27 million.

In the year to March, Perth was the fastest-growing major city in Australia and the rental market was particularly tight.

Surprisingly, Melbourne came second, disproving the theory that population growth is directly linked to rising property prices.

Western Australia’s population grew by 3.1 per cent in a year, new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show.

This was well above the national average of 2.3 per cent, as 10,039 people moved from other states to mining-rich Western Australia, while a further 64,902 people arrived from overseas.

The surprise, however, was that Victoria was the second fastest growing state, with a growth rate of 2.7 per cent a year.

Melbourne is home to a large proportion of its population from overseas, but unlike Sydney, there is no large wave of migration to other states as there are still areas with affordable housing.

A near-record 509,800 migrants arrived in Australia during the year, almost five times the net birth rate of 105,500.

The biggest source of growth was international student migration, as Australia’s population increased by 615,300 to 27.1 million.

Perth was Australia’s fastest-growing large city in the year to March, with Western Australia’s population growing by 3.1 per cent

New South Wales received the largest number of overseas migrants – 168,148 people, which accounted for a third of the influx of foreigners.

The large influx of immigrants is making life in Sydney increasingly unviable – 31,183 people left New South Wales in a year.

Victoria welcomed 151,740 overseas migrants, but the state saw a small influx of interstate migrants of 537.

Despite strong population growth, Melbourne’s median house price fell 1 per cent in the year to August after the Labor government introduced a permanent $975 investment levy.

Melbourne’s median house and apartment price of $776,044 is now lower than Brisbane ($875,040), Perth ($785,250) and Adelaide ($790,789), according to CoreLogic.

Victoria’s capital continues to have affordable suburbs, with Frankston North having a median house price of $589,361.

However, surprisingly, Victoria was the second fastest growing state, with a growth rate of 2.7% per year (pictured are houses in Melbourne)

New South Wales has welcomed the largest number of international migrants, with 168,148 people moving there. The large influx of people is also making Sydney increasingly unviable, with 31,183 people leaving NSW during the year

Third place in terms of population growth went to Queensland, which recorded an increase of 2.5%.

His The influx of 30,930 interstate people is making Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine State increasingly unaffordable, almost comparable to the interstate exodus from New South Wales.

The Sunshine State welcomed 82,794 migrants from abroad.

Another surprise is that Adelaide is still one of the strongest property markets in Australia, despite 1,686 people leaving South Australia during the year.

South Africa’s population growth rate of 1.5 per cent was well below the national average, and the inflow of immigrants from abroad was smaller, at 26,048.

Despite this, Adelaide’s median house price rose by 14.5 per cent in the year to August, outpacing even Brisbane’s 14.1 per cent rise, even as south-east Queensland saw much larger population growth.

South Australia’s population growth outperformed Tasmania’s very weak 0.4 per cent growth and the Northern Territory’s 0.8 per cent expansion.

However, the population of this territory in Australia increased by 1.8 per cent.