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International students have been blamed on a regular basis for contributing to the nation's housing affordability crisis.
Victorian Liberal Senator Jane Hume has told Sky News the Coalition is convinced of that too.
"We have a housing crisis in Australia, and somehow we've got to take the air out of the tyres of the housing crisis, and we know that foreign students put on an exceptional pressure, particularly around our metropolitan universities."
The opposition's education spokesperson Sarah Henderson says the LNP wants to introduce tougher and more effective limits on international student numbers.
The Labor government already tried and failed with a similar move last year, with the plan ultimately being scrapped after failing to win senate support.
But now new research has put claims that international students are putting pressure on the housing market to the test.
University of South Australia associate professor Michael Mu says an Australian-first study of data from government departments and the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found no direct link between international students and soaring rents.*
"We actually look at several different variables: international student numbers, rental vacancy rate, inflation rate, and rental cost. The structural issues such as the vacancy say rate are way, way more important in predicting the rental cost. It's a supply issue."
Research from the Student Accommodation Council shows international students make up just 6 per cent of renters nationally, mostly in capital cities.
Of those, 39 per cent live in student housing.
The Council's Torie Brown says international students are actually at a disadvantage when competing in the private rental market.
"International students have no previous rental history living in Australia, and they usually don't have jobs or income statements when they're putting in for leases. So they're not a landlord's preferred tenant, which is why we want to see more student accommodation because it's the only accommodation type you can apply for while you're still overseas."
International students make an annual contribution of nearly $50 billion to the Australian economy.
Economists say blunt caps on international student numbers could actually do major financial damage, especially in the context of possible US tariffs.
Professor Richard Holden with the University of New South Wales says caps could lead to both a potential loss of income for Australia - and play into a messy geopolitical trade war.
"On April 2, we're staring down the barrel of retaliatory tariffs of maybe 10 per cent or more on everything that we export to the US. There may be more to come. Our exports are under pressure. Education is one of our biggest export industries and it's something that we're really good at, and is a big growth opportunity for Australia, so I don't know why we would be imposing self-inflicted wounds at a time when we've got enough challenges already coming at us from overseas."
* The study examined data from government departments and the Australian Bureau of Statistics between 2017 and 2024.
