Industry groups have welcomed a move by the federal government to increase the limits on a scheme that guarantees home loan deposits for people who have smaller savings deposits.
But the federal government would need to work with the states and territories after the election to ensure housing supply demands continued to be met, the groups said.
The federal government's schemes for first home buyers and single parents will have higher price caps from July 1.
The ACT will have the country's largest increase in the scheme's price cap from $500,000 to $750,000. The median house price in the ACT is now more than $1 million, after rising 27.2 per cent in the year to January.
Property Council of Australia chief executive Ken Morrison said the scheme was well targeted to help people overcome the deposit saving gap, but whoever formed government after the federal election would need to work constructively with the states and territories.
"Unless we're going to get house supply worked out, we know that Australia will continue to have housing affordability pressures that are greater than many of our peer countries. We know there's a job to be done here," Mr Morrison said.
Mr Morrison said the danger was Australia would enter a period of falling supply while demand would increase, bolstered by schemes that allowed more people to enter the market.
"This goes to planning, zoning and the efficiency of the approval process. Most of those responsibilities do sit with state and local governments but we have been calling on the [federal] government and the opposition to commit to different methods of partnership with state governments to address this housing supply crunch that's facing Australia," he said.
Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said increasing the price caps on the scheme was a great move.
"But increasing the supply of new homes is the other piece of the puzzle and we are calling on the next federal government to pay state and territory governments to implement measures to support an increase in new housing supply," Ms Wawn said.
The Liberal senator for the ACT, Zed Seselja, on Monday spoke to the government's announcement in an expanding part of Holt on Canberra's north-western fringe, flanked by lower-house Liberal candidates Nathan Kuster and Slade Minson.
Senator Seselja said the scheme was designed carefully to avoid people facing difficulties if they ended up in negative equity if house prices dropped.
"Potential first home buyers and single parents under the scheme still have to go through the usual checks, so you do have to have a savings history, you do have to convince a bank that you are a good bet, so there is that check. ... There are a lot of safeguards there, but I think we all know that that first step on the housing ladder is so important," Senator Seselja said.
Senator Seselja again criticised the ACT government for deliberately limiting land supply, in a move he said denied people the chance to buy detached houses and instead forced them into units.
"We have a different view when it comes to things like housing affordability. Obviously it would be better if [the ACT government] work with us on these things, but in the absence of that, I'll do all I can to make sure first home buyers have a chance," he said.
