House prices rose in most locations across Australia in September, with Sydney and Melbourne the exceptions, according to new data from CoreLogic.

Six of the eight capital cities recorded increases in their house prices in September, headed by a 2% monthly rise in Darwin.

Prices rose also in most regional jurisdictions, led by a 1.2% increase in Regional South Australia. The “combined regionals” index rose 0.5% in September.

Despite six of the eight cities rising, the overall result for the “combined capitals” in September was a 0.2% decrease, with the average dragged down by negative results in Sydney (down 0.2%) and Melbourne (down 0.9%).

Six of the capitals – Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra and Darwin – have higher price levels than at the start of 2020, notwithstanding the impacts of the pandemic. The best results have occurred in Darwin (up 6.6%), Canberra (up 4.3%) and Hobart (up 4%).

Most of the state and territory regional markets have also recorded rises in 2020, led by Regional Tasmania (up 7.1%), Regional South Australia (4.6%) and Regional NSW (up 4%).

In annual terms, all capitals have recorded growth in their house price levels except Perth, with Sydney, Hobart and Canberra all rising by at least 7%. But the national leader is Regional Tasmania, where house prices have risen 10.2% in the past 12 months.

The CoreLogic figures show, once again, that housing markets have refused to buckle under the weight of the negative pandemic forces.