The Australian housing market could run into a shortage of apartments, leaving many renters in the lurch in the long run, property research group BIS Shrapnel warns.

Rising house prices have attracted investors into the market, driving the supply of apartments for the past four years, managing director Robert Mellor said at the business forecasting conference on Wednesday.

But when prices start to cool – and BIS anticipates a much cooler price movement of between -2 per cent to 3 per cent in the next five years – investors may withdraw, taking supply with them.

By 2018, Queensland is forecast to have had a 70 per cent decline in new high-density construction since its peak level in 2015/2016. Danny Watkins / EyeEm

This could result in a different kind of boom-bust cycle in the long-term – beyond 5 years – because high prices in places like Sydney and Melbourne have produced many new renters – those who can no longer afford to buy a home and have come to rely on rental apartments.

High density development has already started to fall after reaching an all-time high in 2015 and 2016 with forecasts of further heavy declines expected.