The thing is if you don't crash the market, you're looking at the Japanese experience of a long slide where prices slowly drop relative to inflation over 20+ ye

The thing is if you don't crash the market, you're looking at the Japanese experience of a long slide where prices slowly drop relative to inflation over 20+ years which means some generation is going to miss out and not own a home and potentially forgo raising a family. If we can remove all the factors that force up prices on new builds (and don't care if the market for existing homes crashes) then it may be reversed. Material cost should be reversible if you don't expect the house to look like you live at a resort. And we have to ensure supply like incentivising new plantations to eliminate timber shortages. Fixing zoning restrictions will take political will. Stripped local councils of their zoning powers should mean any nimby-isms around building higher density housing, allowing smaller blocks could be ignored. Land release is also fixable by taxing undeveloped land that is zoned residential. More land available should lower prices. Stop doing Government incentives to buy houses. Giving first-home buyers grants simply drives up prices everywhere. Eliminate tax write-offs for "investment" properties: Owning a house should have never been like owning a business. This had the effect of reducing available rentals (and increasing prices) as many were happy to take the growth and the write-off and avoid the maintenance and depreciation that comes with renting the property out. For the renters the price hike made saving for buying a home much more difficult.