Housing affordability will be a key issue when Scott Morrison meets his state and territory counterparts on Friday.
The treasurer says stamp duty on property purchases is something the states can look at without any involvement of the federal government.
And he says there is no reason for the commonwealth to bankroll this as the debt position of the states and territories is a lot less than the commonwealth's burden.
"This fundamentally is an issue for the states," Mr Morrison told Sky Business.
The biggest levers the states have to affect housing supply are through planning and zoning regulation, he said.
Housing affordability will be the centrepiece of Mr Morrison's May budget.
The government has toyed with the idea of allowing first-time home buyers to dip into their superannuation as a housing affordability solution.
Paul Keating has labelled the proposal "irresponsible", while Greens senator Nick McKim says he's on a unity ticket with the former Labor prime minister over the policy suggestion.
"This would be ripping out one of the foundation stones of superannuation in Australia. It is actually one of the stupidest public policy ideas I've heard for some time," Senator McKim said.
In a rare moment of accord, conservative senator Cory Bernadi said: "Want to know what I agree on with the Greens? Using superannuation is one of the dumbest pieces of public policy I've ever seen."
