In the late 1980s, when Paul Keating was pushing reforms to make Australia more competitive he famously quipped that if you walked into any pet shop “the resident galah will be talking about microeconomic policy”.

Today, those pet shop conversations are likely to be about the supply of housing.

Studies show replacing stamp duty with a broad-based property tax would reduce rents and house prices .Credit: Peter Rae

There’s broad agreement we’re in the grip of a housing crisis and that a sustained increase in the number of available dwellings is the best way to fix it. The challenge facing aspiring renters underscores the problem. The national vacancy rate has sunk to a record low 0.7 per cent, Domain data shows. The share of houses available for lease in Sydney and Melbourne has never been lower.

Polls show the community is anxious; last month’s Ipsos Issues Monitor, which asks a representative sample of the population to identify the three top challenges facing the nation, found 45 per cent ranked housing a top concern, the biggest share in the 13-year history of the survey. Many voters seem to accept the need for reforms to improve our housing system.

Understandably, debate has focused on how planning rules should be changed to lift the supply of dwellings.

But in the midst of a crisis we should pull all the available levers; improving the taxation of housing should also be on the agenda, especially the abolition of stamp duty.

Illustration by Simon........

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