Labor is moving to boost foreign investment in housing supply with a controversial tax break that industry players estimate could help deliver as many as 150,000 apartments over the next decade in the emerging build-to-rent sector.

The tax break, condemned by the Productivity Commission and rejected by the previous Coalition government, has been vigorously pursued for many years by local fund managers and offshore institutional investors, who say it will turbocharge the supply of new housing, sorely needed amid the national rental crisis.