Average rental properties around Australia are losing their owners more than $1000 a month despite negative gearing of loans, generous depreciation allowances and capacity to raise rents in a market squeezed by a shortage of properties.

Rental specialists say this highlights the need for landlords to be more entrepreneurial, to look behind the gross yield returns used by spruikers to sell properties and to identify those costs that can be controlled to turn around a loss-making investment.