The situation for tenants across Australia keeps getting worse, because vacancy rates keep falling – and that means rents will keep rising.

The latest report from domain.com.au finds that the national vacancy rate in January was 0.8%, the lowest on record.

The other major source of data on vacancy rate, SQM Research, has a similar figure.

Two of our capital cities, Perth and Adelaide, have vacancy rates of just 0.3% - and there are now only two cities with vacancy rates above 1% - Darwin at 1.3% and Canberra at 1.5%.

Keep in mind that a vacancy rate below 3% is considered a shortage, under 2% is a serious shortage and under 1% is a national crisis.

When your vacancy rate is 0.3%, there’s virtually nothing available to rent and it’s common now to see queues at open houses stretching out the door and down the street.

In circumstances like this, rents inevitably must rise and the cost of living problems for ordinary Australians keep getting worse.