Annually, every capital city reported a rise in residential property prices for the first time since 2014.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics found the ACT recorded a 3.4 per cent rise in residential property prices in the December quarter, matched by Melbourne and followed by Sydney at 3 per cent.

"New lending commitments to households, auction clearance rates and days on market all improved during the December quarter," ABS head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt said.

Canberra had the second highest growth through 2020, with a 5.2 per cent increase. Hobart had the biggest jump of 6.4 per cent over the year and Perth recorded a 4.2 per cent rise.

Nationally, residential property prices rose 3.6 per cent over the year and 3 per cent in the December quarter.

"The numbers of residential property sales increased in all capital cities apart from Melbourne and Hobart during 2020. The strongest increases were observed in Perth, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane," Ms Marquardt said.

The total value of Australia's 10.6 million residential dwellings rose by $257.9 billion to $7,724.4 billion in the December quarter 2020. This is the strongest rise since the December quarter 2016.

The mean price of residential dwellings in Australia is now $728,500.

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The ACT's median house price spike to $855,530 in December, a 9.1 per cent increase of the year prior and the biggest jump in three years.

Record low interest rates have contributed to house prices soaring with records broken in numerous suburbs across Canberra last weekend alone.

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