Melbourne continued its dominance over other capital cities, racking up the largest growth during the first 10 months of the year a new data has shown.

According to the RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Index, median house value in Melbourne surged by 14.92% to $509,987 since the beginning of the year. During the past 12 months, house values climbed by 12.75%. Units also performed strongly with median values rising by 14.69% to $406,168 during the first 10 months of the year.

Sydney has also staged a strong showing, notching up 10.23% growth in house values since the start of 2009. On a year-on-year basis, Sydney houses rose by 8.19% to $611,706.

Darwin manage o extend its impressive run despite recording a slight drop in value during the month of October. During the first 10 months of the year, house values rose by 10.58% to $517,333. During the past 12 months, Darwin still outperformed all the other capital cities with its 16.89% growth.

"Darwin has had a tremendous run over the last 18-24 months seemingly unaffected by the global financial crisis," said Cameron Kusher, senior research analyst with rpdata.com. "With values now similar to those recorded in Melbourne, an eventual slowdown in growth was inevitable. From an investment perspective, the city still remains extremely attractive due to its impressive yields. Any slowdown in value growth is likely to have a positive impact on yields."

Units in Darwin are currently achieving the highest yields at 6.15% while Melbourne houses have the lowest yields at 2.82%. Units in Perth were selling the fastest - on average, taking just 19 days to sell while houses in Canberra takes just 24 days- the shortest time on the market for houses. 

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