Mr Stokes has broken ranks with his federal Liberal colleagues over housing tax breaks, arguing commonwealth policies are pushing the dream of home ownership further out of reach.
Mr Stokes used a speech in Sydney on Friday to attack negative gearing, arguing the federal government needs to focus on helping Australians who want to own their home, rather than favouring investors with million-dollar properties.
"With the price of borrowing at record lows, and generous federal tax incentives that encourage investment in property, Sydney is a prime target for investors," he said today.
"We should not be content to live in a society where it's easy for one person to reduce their taxable contribution to schools, hospitals and other critical government services - through generous federal tax exemptions and the ownership of multiple properties - while a generation of working Australians find it increasingly difficult to buy one property to call home."
Mr Stokes defended the NSW Government, saying it was working hard to raise the supply of housing, but said that alone was not sufficient and called on action from the federal government.
"That's exactly what we're doing - with more homes than ever before," he said. "It is now time for the federal government to articulate how they will partner with the states in order to use the levers available to them to help more Australian families into stable and secure housing."
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says Mr Stokes is in the driver's seat to ensure housing supply can be increased to keep a lid on prices, but the NSW minister says he's delivering housing stock at unprecedented levels.
"Right around Australia young people are looking at the great Australian dream and seeing it slip through their fingers."
Mr Cormann said Mr Stokes "should focus on his responsibilities" as planning minister in NSW.
"That's where he's in the driver's seat to ensure housing supply can be increased ... to improve housing affordability," he told Sky News.
"He's in the driver's seat when it comes to improving planning regulations, zoning regulations, pursuing higher density housing, greater diversity of housing building options."
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Mr Stokes said NSW was delivering housing stock at unprecedented levels but increasing housing supply was not enough, arguing it was time for a significant shift in federal policies.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said overhauling negative gearing - which remains a key Labor policy - was crucial to fixing housing affordability and giving young people hope.
"Right around Australia young people are looking at the great Australian dream and seeing it slip through their fingers," he told reporters in Sydney.
"They look to their government for a bit of hope, for a bit of vision, and all they get is negativity and scare campaigns.
"I hope the federal government takes this as an opportunity to say finally that the time has come to swallow their pride and accept that negative gearing needs to change."
The commonwealth must curb excesses in capital gains and negative gearing tax breaks, the opposition argues.
Finance Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer defended the government's retention of negative gearing.
"A lot of average mums and dads rely on negative gearing to actually have a foot in the property market," she told Nine Network.
The "simplistic solution" of scrapping negative gearing would not fix the housing affordability crisis.
Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison said he and his state counterparts would get a report on housing affordability when they meet next week.
He commended the NSW government for its work in addressing supply issues and said banking regulator changes in 2014 had impacted on how easily investors could get money to buy houses, reducing demand.
"There is no one solution that fixes this issue, and it requires co-operation," he told reporters in Sydney.
"It's not about one level of government and another level of government not being able to come to agreement. It is about the things we can agree on and make work."
