Much has happened on the demand side of the housing market in recent years, as interest rates have fallen and the population risen. But no serious change has been made to address the supply side. The lopsided nature of the market, with rising demand and inelastic supply, has exaggerated price rises. Treasurer, Scott Morrison. Credit:Nic Walker "If you've ever tried to add an extension or build a house you know what has to be done," Mr Morrison said. "The planning, development and approval process" he specified as an area in need of reform. Although it's chiefly an area of responsibility for state governments, Mr Morrison embraces it as problem that requires national leadership.

At his suggestion, it was added to the agenda for the last meeting of state and federal leaders, the Council of Australian Governments, or COAG, under Tony Abbott's prime ministership, in July. "The last leaders' meeting was quite a turning point; housing previously hadn't been on the agenda," he said. Mr Morrison, then the social services minister, wanted it on the agenda because of the effect that runaway price rises were having on social housing, affordable housing and homelessness, areas in his portfolio at the time. Rampant price rises were pushing large numbers of people out of the market, putting them in need of government-assisted housing programs. Altogether, state and federal governments in Australia spend about $11 billion a year on such policies.

Mr Morrison said at the time: "For those seeking to buy their own home, the price has more than doubled the increases in wages over the past 25 years." It was a month later that the median price of Sydney housing hit $1 million and Melbourne's hit a record $668,000. NSW and Queensland were tasked with investigating policy options for the next COAG meeting. Now, as Treasurer, Mr Morrison intends to push the issue as an economic reform. "There are still outstanding water management and energy market issues" on the national competition reform agenda, he said, but these have been progressing for some years. "In the housing sector we haven't had much reform in years."

He pointed out that the number of jobs in the construction sector had been growing in recent years, and that was a good thing. There was scope for further growth in building and construction and Australia as a nation was "good at it." By reviewing regulatory constraints, the industry could become more competitive, he said. He applauded this week's decision by the NSW government to release 7700 hectares of land south of Campbelltown for housing. Follow us on Twitter