Rising house prices are making housing increasingly unaffordable for more and more Australians. I congratulate the members of Senate who resolved to consider what can be done to redress this chronic problem, and hope that this submission may help in the inquiry process. I have been analyzing the political economy of housing in Australia for more than four decades and welcome this opportunity to share some thoughts on the matter. First we need to challenge the view, commonly conveyed in the media, that rapid housing price inflation is beneficial. The question should be: good for whom? There are losers as well as winners in a game such as this. Existing home owners and those owning rental properties may benefit in terms of capital appreciation. On the other hand, those who are seeking to become first homeowners must pay ever higher entry prices, making homeownership an increasingly unattainable goal for many households. A public housing alternative is not readily available for most of these households because of the stringent criteria of personal disadvantage that limit access to the woefully inadequate public housing stock.