Master Builders’ policy proposals to improve housing affordability

21 May 2026

Master Builders Australia has outlined its policy recommendations to improve housing and rental affordability to the Select Committee on Intergenerational Housing Inequity.

The Parliamentary Committee is inquiring into policy, legislative and other options to address the housing challenge.

Acting CEO Melissa Byrne says Master Builders believes the best approach to assist more Australians into the housing market is by making housing less expensive for everybody.

“Both renting and buying a home should be more affordable, and there is a broad-based acceptance that this requires a significant increase in housing supply.

“Building a new home is now almost 50 per cent more expensive than it was before the pandemic.

“Builders are facing regulatory costs of up to $320,000 per new home, alongside a severe decline in productivity. Serious workforce shortages, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, continue to constrain construction, and the new Budget measures unfortunately won’t even move the dial.

“The Government’s recently announced changes to CGT and negative gearing will make matters worse. Treasury is expecting these tax hikes to reduce housing supply by 35,000 homes and place upward pressure on rents and those who rent.

“The industry needs an uplift in investment, not less,” said Ms Byrne.

Master Builders’ recommendations include:

• Minimising the stamp duty burden for First Home Buyers
• Retaining the existing Negative Gearing and CGT discount arrangements, which both result in lower prices on the rental market
• Using the Skilled Migration system more effectively in order to unblock labour shortages in the construction industry, particularly for trades
• Imposing penalties and rewards on utility companies depending on how quickly and effectively they deliver the infrastructure on which new homes rely
• Abolishing the foreign buyer stamp duty surcharge for transactions which result in the creation of new housing stock
• Extending the remit of Competition Law to cover EBAs in the construction industry as well as the conduct of construction unions.

Media contact: Dylan Hafey, Media Advisor

0497 330 064 | dylan.hafey@masterbuilders.com.au