With the impending change to the capital gains tax and negative gearing already phased out for buyers of established properties, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese doesn't appear to be the best friend of property investors. But any ire directed at the government by property investors is misplaced. Even after accounting for potential issues with seasonality, the rental vacancy rate at this time in 2019 was 76.9 per cent higher than it is today. In the US, by mid-2022, the rental vacancy rate was rising back toward pre-Covid norms and was back in the range of normal outcomes by the end of the first quarter of 2023. In second place with the next strongest rental growth is the United States, with total growth of 13.1 per cent.