Treasury and the Reserve Bank have downplayed the effect of negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount on the property market, even as the central bank revealed the average new property investor earns about $230,000 per year.

After weeks of controversy, Treasurer Jim Chalmers last week killed off consideration of either scaling back negative gearing or the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount, saying the proposed changes would not do enough to boost supply in Australia’s housing market.