The Greens' Johnathan Davis will on Thursday move a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling for the standing committee on economy and gender and economic equality to explore possible legal reform to tax property owners for leaving their homes vacant.

"Such an inquiry would allow us to work out exactly how many residential properties are vacant in Canberra and why. This work is so important while Australia grapples with a housing affordability crisis. We cannot afford to have a single home in Canberra vacant while we have so many who need a home," Mr Davis said.

Mr Davis said a vacancy tax could also help ensure the small community shopping centres, one of the features of Canberra's suburbs, were not left empty.

"Canberra was designed to ensure each suburb has their own shops, schools and recreation spaces. However, we know of too many instances throughout our suburbs, particularly in my community of Tuggeranong, where commercial property has been left vacant. These vacancies rob communities of their full potential," he said.

"We don't know why property owners are able to keep those properties vacant for so long and we need to get to the bottom of it."

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The motion will call on the committee to consider ways to assess why properties have been left vacant and the impact of vacant residential properties on prices and rents, with a report due early next year.

There were almost 12,600 unoccupied dwellings in the ACT on census night in 2016, which was 8.1 per cent of all private dwellings in the territory.

Vacant residential land tax is imposed on homes in inner and middle Melbourne by the Victorian government, which collects 1 per cent of the capital improved value of the taxable land.

The tax applies in a list of designated suburbs when the property is vacant for more than six months in the preceding calendar year.

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