Changes to negative gearing won't be taken to the next election, the prime minister insists, despite suggestions the government was examining altering the tax concession.
While Treasury was reportedly carrying out modelling of the policy change, Anthony Albanese said any tinkering with the measure would likely harm housing supply.
"What we're doing is planning for our Homes for Australia policy. That's the policy that we have, and that's what my government has focused on," he told ABC TV on Thursday.
"If you didn't have investment in housing, you wouldn't have private rentals, you would have less supply and less construction is the concern which is there."
Negative gearing allows for investors to claim a loss on a property they own in order to reduce their overall tax bill.
Labor took a policy to the 2019 election that would have limited negative gearing to existing properties.
Mr Albanese said Treasury looking at the impact of changes to negative gearing was not out of the ordinary.
"Treasury don't need to be directed, they're not school children with teachers up the front of the class telling them what to do," he said.
"There's nothing unusual about that. There's nothing special about it, and I frankly can't see why it's an issue at all."
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton lambasted the suggestion negative gearing could be altered.
"The prime minister keeps changing his story about whether the government is adopting the Greens policy to abolish negative gearing or to cap it," he told reporters in Perth.
"We will take a very strong stance against any changes to negative gearing, because it will disrupt the housing market, it will drive up rents, and it's not in our nation's best interest."
Mr Dutton said the coalition would not be making any changes to negative or capital gains taxes going into the next election.
Former Liberal treasurer Joe Hockey also used an appearance at the National Press Club to weigh in on the speculation.
He said any changes to negative gearing could go on to affect the rental market.
"If you're going to tinker with negative gearing, don't look first at the housing stock, look at the impact on rents, because landlords who are struggling to pay the interest on a loan against a property will increase the rents," he said.
"We're running short on workers. We've got big inflation in building. You've got massive red tape, green tape, why would you build in Australia? So you've got to have the tax system help you along that way."
The Greens had urged the government to alter negative gearing in exchange for getting Labor's housing measures through parliament, where they have been stalled in the Senate.
The housing plan would allow for first home buyers to have a lower deposit to purchase a property.
Negative gearing drives rental prices up by favouring wealthy landlords, which also increases the cost of housing and locks first homebuyers out of the market, Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said.
