-Extrapolating your anecdotes onto the broader market when the statistics for the broader market are already available. Rents are dropping after inflation.
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70321
Hence the line 'at least where I am investing'...Funnily enough, as I mentioned in the linked thread this info is irrelevant to me (and many others on SS), I am enjoying uprecedented rent increases in inner Sydney at the moment and have been since the GFC.
Relying on median data is a fools game, I have little interest in average national data as this info can be either positively or negatively deceptive.
Using one's own investment sphere and network is a far more reliable source in my opinion.
Over-reliance on average data, leads to average investments and I have no intention of being an average investor.