It is argued that deregulation of housing interest rates would, under plausible assumptions, substantially increase the cost of housing finance in Australia, contrary to the impression created by theFinal Reportof the Australian Financial System Inquiry (the Campbell Report). Characteristics of the market for owner‐occupier housing finance, on both the demand and supply sides, suggest that the deregulated market rate will be approximately equal to the uncontrolled rate under regulation. The weighted average interest rate for owner‐occupier housing finance at December 1981 is more than three percentage points below the uncontrolled rate. The authors conclude that while this result does not of itself constitute an argument against deregulation, it does imply that deregulation would have a substantial distributional imp