House prices have risen in most of Australia's major capital cities while auction clearance rates have increased in all but two.

The battle for top ranking in annual median home price movements continues between Melbourne and Sydney, with their prices up 15.5 per cent and 13.1 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Brisbane recorded a 3.7 per cent annual lift and Adelaide prices rose 2.2 per cent, but Perth fell 2.4 per cent, data from property analytics firm CoreLogic show.

Combined, capital city prices were up 10.6 per cent on the same time last year.

Over the week to July 9, the picture was similar, with Perth the only major capital to record a drop in home values, of 0.6 per cent.

Melbourne again was out in front, with its median home price lifting 1.4 per cent, followed by Sydney with a 0.6 per cent rise, Brisbane gaining 0.3 per cent and Adelaide edging 0.1 per cent higher over the week.

The number of homes up for auction has continued to slide with 1,751 properties going under the hammer across the five cities during the past week, compared to 2,001 the previous week.

Melbourne recorded the highest auction clearance rate, at 73.9 per cent, which was up from 71.8 per cent at the same time last year, while in Sydney 72.5 per cent of properties up for auction sold, down four percentage points on 2016.

Across Australia’s seven major capitals combined, excluding Darwin, the auction clearance rate of 70.7 per cent, was virtually unchanged from the 70.6 per cent at the same time last year, but it was up from the previous week’s 67.3 per cent.

By Petrina Berry