Melbourne is on track to pass five million residents this year and will soon overtake Sydney as Australia’s most populated city.

But why? 125,000 people will be added to Melbourne’s population for the second year running this year.

Demographer Bernard Salt spoke with Ross and John on Wednesday, saying Melbourne’s growth compared to Sydney’s came down to one simple issue – housing affordability.

“I understand many Melburnians would say we have a problem with housing affordability and that’s true, but you can technically buy a house and land package 30 kilometres from the city for just over $400,000  – you cannot do anything like that within 60 kilometres of Sydney,” he explained.

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