The Prime Minister's words will give renewed assurance to intending buyers that prices will keep rising. Government policy will be directed to that end.

Abbott isn't the first to let it slip. His friend Ross Cameron, then parliamentary secretary to treasurer Peter Costello in John Howard's government, infamously declared that rising prices made "for happy voters".

Howard halved the headline rate of capital gains tax, sparking an avalanche of negative gearing that pushed Sydney prices beyond the reach of low income Australians.

Abbott has said that whatever the findings of his government's tax white paper there will be no changes to negative gearing. That support for high prices is here to stay.

A vote for Abbott will be a vote for further increases in house prices, something that will please the two thirds of the population that either already owns or is buying a house. The other third will see prices climb further out of reach. The head of his treasury says he is worried that Australia's low interest rates are "encouraging people to perhaps over-invest in housing". Abbott shows no such concern.