Australians struggling to break into the property market would no longer need to save for a house deposit under a radical proposal from a Turnbull government backbencher.
Nationals MP Andrew Broad has floated scrapping the need for deposits, with banks instead able to rely on an applicant's rental history.
His idea comes as Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev urges policymakers to look at both the supply and demand sides of the property market to tackle housing affordability.
Under Mr Broad's plan, a person wanting to buy a "modest" house could instead put forward three years of unblemished rental history to prove their ability to make payments.
The idea lends itself to regional areas where rents tend to follow a similar trajectory to mortgage repayments.
"For a lot of people by the time they cover their rent and cost of living the deposits are going out of reach," Mr Broad told AAP on Friday.
"As long as the property they were purchasing, the payment schedule was somewhere near where their rental is, then we should be giving them that opportunity."
The MP denied the idea would expose Australia to a property crash similar to what rocked the US, saying American banks had offered 100 per cent loans to people unable to prove they could service them.
"If you haven't been a perfect renter, and you're borrowing something that's beyond your capacity to prove you can pay, then you won't get a loan," Mr Broad said.
He said the Australian Bankers Association was receptive to the idea and conversations were also afoot within the federal government about tackling housing costs.
Mr Broad is also open to reforming capital gains tax by making investors hold on to a property longer before qualifying for special rates, as well as placing a cap on the amount property owners can negatively gear.
But while he wants to see the scales tipped in favour of first-home buyers, he warned against removing incentives to invest, fearing reduced supply and higher rents.
Mr Narev, head of Australia's biggest home lender, said governments must avoid cherry-picking individual housing policies and take an integrated approach by looking at both housing supply and demand.
Asked about whether winding back capital gains tax concessions could take heat out of property market, Mr Narev said initial discussions about affordability should centre on supply and supporting infrastructure.
"That's the only way you are going to get sustainable change in the housing market in Australia," he said.
"Our number one goal across all government should be the discussion about how to stimulate that supply activity."
Mr Narev said Australia ought be careful about what effect any "blunt instrument" tax changes may have on various markets and the broader economy.
