The bosses at the Reserve Bank have been banging on about the housing boom for yonks, but the Beehive hasn't been listening.

It's probably got more to do with the type of language they've been using that doesn't resonate with the great unwashed and, after all, they have the vote. It floats off into the ether and few, other than those with a brain geared to finance speak, get the message.

Here's a random example from one of their Monetary Policy Statements made when they were talking about data challenges in the monetary policy process. They said that in an important sense macroeconomic data are always approximate measures of abstract concepts.

Yeah well, go figure!

So it was met with some surprise when their Deputy Guv Grant Spencer put it in pretty plain language. He was essentially sending a message about the Government's failure to grapple with the Auckland housing furnace.

Spencer warned that God's Own is one of the few advanced economies that hasn't had a major house price correction in the past 45 years. He painted a pretty grisly scenario about the housing bubble bursting if global interest rates rise or if a downturn occurs in the global economy and financial markets.

With banks here racking up 60% of their total lending on houses, they'd haemorrhage in a downturn, significantly impacting on our economy.

Housing investors should be reined in. They're flooding the Auckland housing market, reinforced by high returns when they sell and aren't taxed on their profits.

In other words Spencer suggested one of the ugliest political prospects, a capital gains tax, which of course was roundly rejected last year when Labour brought it to the election table.

If you're in the specific business of buying and selling houses on a regular basis then as it stands your profits are meant to be taxed. But there's a grey area, it's not always easy for the taxman to get his paws on the filthy lucre.

The central banker's sending a message to the Beehive to consider policy that'd address the preferred treatment given to housing, especially those investing in it.

The current crop of Beehive bandits aren't of a mind to fiddle with the taxes while the bubble expands and Auckland burns.

But if you listen to the Reserve Bank, something's got to give!