While media obsesses over speculation about property prices, a far bigger issue for residential property is the extraordinary shortage of rental properties.

I have been researching real estate for 40 years and I have never seen rental markets so tight in so many places.

Vacancies have been low for years but they keep falling and now all eight capital cities are well below 2%, with six of them between 0.4% and 0.8%. The national average is below 1%.

“Crisis” is an overused word in media but this truly is a crisis. Desperate individuals and families can’t find a rental home at any price and businesses can’t fill job vacancies because willing workers can’t find a place to live.

This has caused rents to rise in most locations across Australia, particularly in the past 12 months.