As voters weigh up the Turnbull government's housing affordability initiatives, new figures show the proportion of first home buyers taking out a mortgage remains at a very low base.
New housing entrants secured under 14 per cent of new loans granted in March, remaining close to the record low 12.9 per cent set a year ago.
Commonwealth Securities estimates the long-term average is almost 20 per cent, while the peak was set in May 2009 at over 30 per cent.
ANZ senior economist Daniel Gradwell says the figures support the need to address housing affordability, especially for first home buyers.
"We remain somewhat sceptical of the long-term impact of measures that pump more demand capacity into the housing market, such as the super saver scheme announced in last week's budget," he says.
The scheme allows those needing to raise a home deposit to do so more quickly by salary sacrificing into their superannuation account beyond the super guaranteed contribution.
Treasurer Scott Morrison's second budget also proposed additional curbs on investors, such as a $5000 vacancy tax for those who leave their property empty, while there was an inducement for retirees to downsize from the family home.
Aside from some tinkering of tax concessions, negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount remained largely intact - two measures Labor wants to limit.
However, a new analysis indicates that over the past five years it is not negative gearing that has frozen first home buyers out of the market.
Rather, it is the relative ease with which investors, who generally own their home, can use that equity as a deposit, compared to the first home buyer who has to save from scratch.
The Australian Institute for Progress also says Labor's policies, while heavily penalising investors, wouldn't stop them from being active in the housing market.
"A geared investment in housing would still beat an investment in superannuation by up to 71 per cent after tax," the institute says.
Separate research suggests it is not just a mortgage that can become a yoke around a borrower's neck, but the house itself.
The study by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute found people who own or are paying off their home stay unemployed longer should they have the misfortune of losing their job.
"Homeowners have less mobility than renters, due in part to the impacts of high selling costs and stamp duty when selling a house and this can have an impact on their employment decisions," the report's author Stephen Whelan says.
