Non-profit property developer group the Urban Taskforce has blasted the Council of Australian Governments, saying it has failed to take any action on housing affordability.

Urban Taskforce CEO Aaron Gadiel commented that COAG has failed to act on a Productivity Commission report into zoning and development assessments. A COAG communication on the report claimed states and territories were "continuing to improve significantly" in planning and development. Gadiel called this assertion "nonsense".

"There is no sign that state governments have taken any note of the Productivity Commission's report, and clearly the Commonwealth hasn't insisted that they should," Gadiel said.

The Productivity Report, Gadiel said, identified practices pertaining to property zoning and development which could "dramatically improve the efficiency and responsiveness of state planning systems".

"They advocated broad and simplified development rules, more rational and transparent rules for infrastructure levies and eliminating impacts on the viability of existing businesses as a town planning consideration," he commented.

The report commissioned by COAG asked the Productivity Commissions Housing Supply and Affordability Reform Working Party to investigate potential reform to zoning and planning processes, the development of consistent principles for development charges, the role of local governments in planning approval processes and extending land audit work to examine underutilised land. Gadiel commented that these reports either have not been completed, or have not been released.

"Every day that passes is another day that these key reports - if they even exist - gather dust," he said.