Housing Minister Clare O’Neil says renters blocked from buying their first home are her top priority, promising negotiations with the Greens to pass legislation for Labor’s help-to-buy and build-to-rent programs.

But any end to the impasse on the legislation looks set to be difficult, as Greens spokesman Max Chandler-Mather savaged Ms O’Neil’s claim on Monday that Treasury modelling showed 160,000 new rental properties would be ready within a decade under build to rent.