Housing stock shortages could see rents rise as much as 50% in the next four years according to recent stories in the Australian Financial Review and on Channel 9’s Today program.

Matthew Cranston’s story in the Financial review said that because of double digit increases in asking rents for the past year, some tenants were now securing accommodation by locking in rents for a year in advance.

He quoted Australian Property Monitors general manager Michael McNamara as saying rental listings were at their lowest for four years.

And the Channel 9 story said supplies of affordable rental properties were diminishing.

Australia’s largest rental property manager Run Property told the Financial Review that people were now applying for rental properties as they would for a job. This included details of where they worked, why they wanted in the area, references and details of their lifestyles.

The story said BIS Shrapnel was recording stock deficiencies of 45,000 dwellings in Sydney and 30,000 in Melbourne.

Median rents in Melbourne increased 17% in the 12 months to March, Sydney 11% and Brisbane 10%.

However, BIS Shrapnel senior economist Jason Anderson said investors in Sydney and Melbourne would need a longer period or rental growths to justify entering the market.

He said rental growth in Brisbane was a benchmark. It was ‘like a canary in the cage’ – where there had been a long extended growth in rentals. In that city, there had been a clear increase in investor demand.