How to determine rental market demand

[Charles Carlton-Smith]

Hi Everyone,

I am in the process of educating myself about real estate investing and am currently thinking about the rental market. This will be part of my strategy to reach my goals of owning property that generates a rental income.

Thus, can somebody guide me on how one determines the rental market potential of an area? I can think how to set a rental rate by looking at websites for rentals and comparing similar properties but this would not tell me how big/small the market is for that area. I imagine properties near colleges and universities, for example, would have many students looking for rentals but how does one actually understand the demand and therefore whether it is likely to be easy to find tenants and thus reduce vacancies?

Thanks for any and all help!

All the best,

Charlie