The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has come out in opposition to comments calling for a revision to the capital gains tax (CGT) regime as it applies to family homes.

Currently, owner occupiers are exempt from capital gains tax, but were noted by Treasury this year in its tax expenditure statement, unlike previous years, at a cost of $31.5bn.

A report in the Austrlaian Financial Review found some housing industry pundits thought the application of CGT to owner occupiers could remove distortions in the property market.

“This is an issue that was put to bed last year," said David Airey, president of the REIA.

"It seems absurd to raise this matter, particularly in the context of an election campaign, when the Government has been very clear that it will not consider imposing CGT on the family home," he said.

The Government has said repeatedly it would not apply CGT to family homes.

The REIA has put forward a proposal to all political parties which has reiterated the call for CGT to be excluded from family homes.

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