I also understand that at a basic level it's the interaction between the real estate purchase market and rental market supply and demand curves which drive attributes like price to rent ratios in a given area.My question is, how do those two related supply/demand curves interact at a fundamental level and what are the common characteristics or reasons a market maintains a good price to rent ratio?

Fundamentally it seems that a majority of realtors don't understand that any property that produces income should be priced using the net operating income method.

@Sean Bramble There is a fundamental saying in real estate investing ‘You make money when you buy, not when you sell’

Biggerpockets helped us compile a lot of information and learn the fundamentals.

The Fed tried to stimulate lending by dropping rates, which should have increased the pool of buyers and therefore curtailed the growth of, or in fact reduced, rental rates relative to what they would have been immediately after the crash, and perhaps suppressed growth of rental rates since that point.The oddest thing about the graph comparing rent rates to home prices, though, is that rent rates continue at a steady clip almost completely irrespective of home prices, which leads me to believe that the types of consumers demanding homes are fundamentally different from the types of consumers demanding to rent.

For that matter, join fundamentally any REIA in the area, but I know Bernadette's local to you but with a regional presence.   

Chicago fundamentally has some financial issues and incredibly high taxes. 

Both office and retail real estate are fundamentally changing. 

My choices depend on a variety of factors such as market fundamentals, job growth, demographics, what can residents pay for rent based on their median income and much more.I, for one, don't invest in areas with a population less than 250K and we're about to raise that number soon.

Fundamentally, MF investing is the best form of investing.