Labor's announcement that a returned Albanese government would build 100,000 houses for first home buyers is hardly radical. Who'd have thought that actually building houses for people to live in might work? It would.
The Prime Minister's other housing announcement – to allow people to buy a home with a deposit of just 5%, to avoid mortgage insurance – would give more buyers the chance to bid against each other and push prices up.
The Liberal policy, to allow first home buyers of new homes to claim the interest as a tax deduction, would do the same. Enabling them to dip into their super would make things worse and risk making them poor in retirement.
Neither Anthony Albanese nor Peter Dutton mentioned the two obvious reforms that would help to solve the housing crisis: scrapping or reducing negative gearing and removing the capital gains tax discount for investors.
"We welcome the government's plan to build 100,000 homes," said Matt Grudnoff, Senior Economist at The Australia Institute.
"The Australia Institute has long argued the best way for the government to improve housing affordability is to build and own more homes for people to live in - much as it does for Defence Housing Australia.
"This plan is not radical and should become standard for all governments.
"But the plan to guarantee a 5% deposit for first-home buyers will put pressure on prices.
"The Liberal Party's policy to deduct interest payments on the first $650,000 of a mortgage against your taxable income is adding yet another tax distortion that will cause prices to rise.
"It would mostly benefit the wealthy in a housing market already distorted with the 50% capital gains tax discount and negative gearing.
"Coupled with the ability to access superannuation, the Liberal's policies would only serve to increase house prices and make housing affordability worse.
"Both parties' policies fail to remove the 50% capital gains tax discount and negative gearing, which have turned the housing market into a speculators' delight and been the overriding cause of the decline in housing affordability over the past 25 years."
