As the local property market booms, the Sunday Canberra Times can reveal 41 of the ACT's 98 residential suburbs have achieved a million-dollar sale or beyond.

The traditionally affluent inner-south enclaves of Forrest, Red Hill and Deakin have been joined by more far flung suburbs such as Bonython, Amaroo and Harrison at the million-dollar mark.

Industry figures predict house prices will continue to rocket.

Canberra's first million-dollar house the former Mugga Way residence of newspaper publisher John Fairfax was sold in 1989.

But according to the director and namesake of Richard Luton Properties, it is inevitable the Canberra market will move past the $10million mark. And soon.

''Canberra has come of age,'' Mr Luton said. ''In the 10 years our business has been open we have sold well in excess of 100 million-dollar properties. The market is very strong and house prices tend to double every 10 years. We had a property today in O'Connor that went for $1.265 million, which was $315,000 above the reserve.''

Mr Luton said a dramatic shortfall in the supply of houses in the ACT had led to a seller's market.

But buyers had not been deterred, turning up in droves at auctions and engaging in fierce bidding wars.

''People are tending to hold on to their properties and if they are going to buy a second they will keep the other as an investment,'' he said. ''With the stockmarket taking such a hammering through the financial crisis, people are returning to residential investments.''

LJ Hooker Tuggeranong Real Estate director Mario Sanfrancesco said the market was unlikely to ease off.

''[There is] a fair degree of confidence, right across all sectors,'' he said. ''Taking into account the activity we have seen at auctions, the level of enquiry and the number of bidders it is likely to continue throughout the year.''

The same properties were also regularly exchanging hands at escalating prices.

An O'Malley address was sold in 1993 for $200,000. Sixteen years and four owners later, the property achieved a $4million sale.

There are still bargains in the market a one bedroom unit in Campbell sold for $97,500 last year.

At the other end of the scale, the current record for a house belongs to a Moresby Street residence in Red Hill which sold last year for $4.5 million.