With a price cap of $600,000 for homes, Labor's Help to Buy scheme leaves little to choose from in Canberra's competitive property market.

The shared equity scheme, pledged during the campaign, would see the government contribute up to 40 per cent of a property's purchase price in return for an equivalent stake in its future worth.

It is available to 10,000 applicants a year, including singles earning less than $90,000 per year or couples earning less than $120,000. Places are restricted to owner occupiers who don't currently own a property.

Buyers would be required to save a minimum deposit of 2 per cent and will be exempt from lenders mortgage insurance.

However analysis by property data firm CoreLogic shows there is just one Canberra suburb with a median house price under the threshold of $600,000: Strathnairn, with a median of $545,857 in April.

It represents just 1.2 per cent of suburbs in the ACT.

By comparison, Sydney's price threshold is $950,000, which 26.8 per cent of suburbs fall under for houses, and Melbourne's $850,000 threshold captures 31.3 per cent of suburbs for houses.

In April, price thresholds for the existing federal First Home Guarantee scheme were increased to reflect the growth in Australia's property prices.

Under the revised thresholds for the 2022-2023 financial year, first home buyers in Canberra can purchase homes of up to $750,000 with as little as a 5 per cent deposit.

This program, along with an expanded regional component, will continue to run under the new government.

CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said it's important to note the new shared equity scheme isn't designed to be a reiteration of the First Home Guarantee.

"Instead, the Help to Buy scheme is especially targeted at relatively low- to middle-income households who could comfortably service a smaller housing loan and it is intentionally small so as not to add too much demand-side pressure to the housing market," she said.

A property search for Canberra houses under the threshold yields limited results.

A three-bedroom home at 109 Bernard Heinze Avenue, Moncrieff is currently listed for sale with a price guide of $500,000-plus.

The property is part of a townhouse development but is on a separate title. It is also part of the ACT's land rent scheme, so the price is for the house only.

Real estate agent Adrian Stroh of Independent Property Group Tuggeranong said finding a free-standing house for under $600,000 is near impossible right now, as Canberra's entry-level market remains buoyant.

One of his listings, 4 Morrison Street, Kambah, went to auction on Wednesday and sold for $630,000 despite having no carpet and sitting on just 393 square metres of land.

"That was probably the most surprised I've been in over 12 months, I guess since we had that very sharp uplift in pricing," he said.

"To see so many people still trying to get into that bottom end, it just feels like that part of the market is lacking in the stock that we need to help those people out."

Canberra buyers will have more options to purchase a unit using the scheme.

There are 21 ACT suburbs (42 per cent) with a median unit price within the $600,000 threshold.

Ms Owen said the price threshold of the Help to Buy initiative is more in line with the apartment sector, where typical values across Canberra are sitting at about $620,000.

"Part of the reason we've seen relative affordability in the unit segment is the relatively high levels of apartment completions across the ACT over time, which over the course of the pandemic may not have been in especially high demand," she said.

"Price caps on these schemes are adjustable, but it's worth noting more properties could come under this threshold as prices move into a downswing phase amid higher interest rates."

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