For many in the national capital, they're a baffling spectacle of new suburb records and prices once unimaginable in parts of the city. More importantly, for too many prospective home buyers, they're a dispiriting reminder of the ever-growing difficulty in getting a foothold onto the property ladder.

The ACT lockdown did little if nothing to slow down the Canberra property market's steep rise. Recent figures show the city now has the second most-expensive median property prices, after Sydney.

That phenomenon is playing out in some mind-boggling ways at the suburban level. In Denman Prospect, a 638-square-metre block of land is expected to sell at auction in November for more than $1.2 million, almost double what it was worth just three years ago. New data this month shows four more Canberra suburbs have joined the million-dollar club after their median house prices cracked seven figures. Overall, the ACT's median dwelling price grew by 1.94 per cent over October and 6.18 per cent in the quarter.

Houses, in particular, are becoming harder to afford. They are rising especially fast in value.

Those are all worrying signs for would-be home owners trying to get their start. What is also telling is that in one of Canberra's newest suburbs, Taylor, 7500 people registered to buy 115 blocks in a land release.

As Canberrans looking to buy a home will tell you, it can be a long, frustrating and sometimes disappointing journey. Amid all the competition, they are having to make compromises and hard decisions. It involves home buyers looking at other options on the table and considering properties, lifestyles and suburbs that differ from their original hopes - that is, if they don't leave the market altogether.

As more Canberrans get priced out of buying a property, it's time the city looked at all of its options to solve the problem, too. It does not seem sustainable that houses become out of reach for first-time home buyers, many of whom will want to start families in detached dwellings on their own blocks. It's not fair to simply accept that houses will be out of reach for young families.

Liberal MLA Mark Parton has drawn attention to Canberra's housing affordability problem, calling on the ACT government to declare a housing crisis in response to rapidly increasing property prices and rents.

Mr Parton points to the shortage of single-dwelling blocks as driving the price rise, and has called for an independent review of what impact ACT government policies have had on rising house prices and rent levels.

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Rising housing unaffordability is a problem with many causes, and both federal and territory governments hold the levers to help solve it. At the moment, neither seem to offer much in the way of solutions.

The ACT government won't necessarily solve the problem simply by releasing more land in new suburbs.

Nor is it simply a matter of requiring home buyers to change their tastes and expectations, and telling them to buy apartments or townhouses, or look further afield in Goulburn. These options are not practical for everyone.

Voters rejected Labor's proposals to improve affordability with negative gearing changes at the last federal election. That shouldn't be the end of the national debate on housing policy.

Both level of governments should present other options to improve the situation for people trying to enter the market.

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