The latest figures show that the total value of all 10.6 million residential dwellings in Australia rose by $257.9 billion over the December 2020 quarter to $7,724.4 billion.

This is the strongest rise in total value since the December 2016 quarter, which brings the mean price of residential dwellings in Australia to $728,500.

To date, NSW has the highest mean price for residential dwellings at $939,700, followed by Victoria ($785,000) and the ACT ($757,000). The most affordable state/territory is the Northern Territory, with a mean price of $429,400.

Across the eight capital cities, residential property prices rose by 3.0 per cent over the quarter – the strongest quarterly growth since the December 2019 quarter.

All capital cities recorded a quarterly rise in residential property prices, with Melbourne and Canberra leading the charge at 3.4 per cent. This was followed by Hobart with 3.1 per cent and Sydney with 3.0 per cent.

Meanwhile, Perth saw a 2.9 per cent increase in residential property prices, followed by Brisbane with 2.7 per cent, Adelaide with 2.6 per cent and Darwin with 2.2 per cent.

“The rise in property prices is consistent with a range of housing market indicators,” according to ABS head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt.

“New lending commitments to households, auction clearance rates and days on market all improved during the December quarter.”

Annually, from the December 2019 quarter to the December 2020 quarter, residential property prices rose by a weighted average of 3.6 per cent across the eight capital cities.

According to Ms Marquadt, this is the first time that all capital cities have seen an annual increase since the December 2014 quarter.

Hobart saw the highest annual rise at 6.4 per cent, followed by Canberra with 5.2 per cent, Perth with 4.2 per cent and Brisbane with 4.0 per cent.

Adelaide followed with 3.8 per cent, then Sydney with 3.7 per cent, Melbourne with 2.9 per cent and Darwin with 2.3 per cent.

Ms Marquadt noted that over the year, the number of residential property sales also increased in all capitals apart from Melbourne and Hobart, with the strongest increases seen in Perth, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane.