Homelessness is predicted to worsen following the Australian Federal Election in May as cautious investors hold off on development applications.
Inspire Realty founder and property advisor Colin Lee says some investors and developers are holding off on developments until after the election is completed.
"Every developer I have spoken with nationally in the last three weeks has been waiting and seeing what the new government will put into place on negative gearing," Mr Lee said.
He says this cautiousness would lead to increased rental and sale prices as demand will continue to outstrip supply following the election.
"Properties will not go down. People need a place to live and property is in high demand from renters and buyers."
Agents have reported that landlords in competitive markets are being inundated with a record number of rental applications amid a shortage of available rental properties.
Principal and Finance Specialist at Moneybags Property Jimboomba Simone Curtis says demand for rental properties have outstripped availability.
"We had 179 applications just for one property last week," she says.
"We've got two coming in Cedar Vale which is quite rare to have any stock available, we expect around 100 applications per property."
Domain's latest Rental Vacancy Report found that the national rental vacancy rate fell to one per cent in March, with all capital cities now operating in a landlord's market.
The reopening of international and domestic borders has also added pressure to the rental market.
"It's about time in property rather than timing the property. Homes are not being built fast enough to accommodate demand and we have a ferocious appetite from overseas," says Mr Lee.
The issue of homelessness is expected to escalate, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting in 2016 more than 116,000 people were homeless throughout Australia.
According to Launch Housing, there are now more than 290,000 homeless people and growing across the country.
Simone - We have seen investors coming back to the market in the last four weeks and they haven't been concerned about negative gearing. Sale prices have held firm even with an investment purchaser even though the rental return is negatively geared. Demand outstrips the availability of rental properties for sure. We had 179 applications just for one property last week. We've got two coming in Cedar vale which is quite rare to have any stock available, we expect around 100 applications per property. It's gone up considerably by about 60 per cent in the last 12 months.
Cathy - A tremendous amount of houses have been built, it's whether they're going to the rental market, we haven't seen that as yet, if they are going to the rental market or are they going because the demand for owner-occupier homes is so strong now whether... Anyone I'm speaking to at the moment is really just keen to come into Beaudesert and really provide some services to Beaudesert that the town obviously needs. There's been a lot of interest in interstate in accommodation in Beaudesert. My biggest problem is I've got plenty of buyers but limited amount of property. Most of my sales don't even get to the internet because I have buyers standing by waiting to purchase. A lot of the reluctance to sell because they're scared they may not be able to buy back in to the district. For Beaudesert, and I can only speak for Beaudesert, I would think it's more the availability of the right land as in zoning. Certainly I definitely am getting a lot of enquiries from both interstate and the Gold Coast regarding 'have you just noticed Beaudesert. Wow how did we miss it. We're being noticed.
