The Turnbull government has been accused of having no plan to help Australia’s first-home buyers after Coalition MPs led a fruitless 20-month inquiry into housing.

Parliament’s lower-house economics committee, stacked with government members, made no recommendations in a 55-page report released on Friday.

That was despite receiving 65 submissions, hearing evidence from 68 witnesses and holding seven public hearings since the inquiry was launched in April 2015 – interrupted by this year’s federal election.

It found that many parts of Australia, other than Sydney and Melbourne, have a relatively weak housing market and that policy should focus primarily on boosting supply in undersupplied markets.

It ruled out support for any tax rises for property investors, including Labor’s proposal to limit negative gearing and discounts on capital gains tax.

“Increasing rates of tax on property investment would have a negative impact on the economy,” the Liberal chairman David Coleman said.

He noted the banking watchdog Apra had already moved to limit the rate of borrowing by investors and had to ability to take further action if needed.

But Labor labelled it incredible the report into home ownership contained no policy suggestions.

“The government’s members report perfectly reflects the Turnbull government’s economic plan – there isn’t one,” the shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, said.

In a dissenting report, Labor again pushed for negative gearing to be limited to new housing from July 1 next year and that the capital gains discount for all properties bought after that date be halved from 50% to 25%.

The opposition claims the policy will initiate a boost in new housing, provide young families with the chance to find a home and take pressure of inner-city housing markets that are predominantly made up of existing dwellings.

The Greens propose phasing out the discount on capital gains tax entirely by 2020 and the removal of negative gearing for all non-business assets bought on or after 1 July this year.

“Young people are getting screwed,” Greens MP Adam Bandt said. “The government refuses to admit there’s a problem, let alone take any steps to make housing more affordable.”