The present housing market reflects a dangerous public policy failure where a worthwhile national aspiration – the so-called ‘Australian dream’ of owning your own home – has combined with generous tax concessions, poor government planning and a lack of investment imagination to pose a serious threat to our ‘fair go’ economy and society.

Misha Zelinsky is an author, lawyer, and economist. He currently serves as the Assistant National Secretary of the Australian Workers Union and as a director of Cbus Super Fund.