My prediction for real estate prices in the next 12 months is very different to the ones being published by mainstream media.

While there are forecasts from the usual suspects – mostly economists with poor track records in forecasting – that prices will fall 15% or 20%, my prediction is that property prices will rise in the next 12 months.

For a long time now there has been a serious disconnect between what’s happening in real estate markets in Australia and what mainstream media says is happening in Australian real estate.

But right now, that gap between media perceptions and reality is greater than ever before.

My view, very strongly, is that now is a time of great opportunity for property investors in Australia.

In many locations, the heat has come out of the market, so that investors can buy with less competition and urgency, meaning there are prospects to buy at better prices than a year ago.

At the same time, vacancies right across Australia are the lowest ever recorded and rents are rising faster than I have seen in my four decades of researching real estate.

There is a serious shortage of homes in Australia and all the projections suggest it will get worse before it gets better.

This means there is an accumulation of factors likely to create price growth in the near future and in the longer-term.