The Australian Bureau of Statistics quarterly index has shown capital city house prices virtually unchanged over the September quarter.

The result affirms the RP Data monthly home value index, which has been showing slight falls in home prices over the last five months.

Prices for detached houses rose a national average of just 0.1 per cent in the three months to September according to the ABS figures.

That resulted in an 11.5 per cent rise in prices over the year to September - much weaker than the 13.4 per cent expected in the median economist forecast.

There was also a steep downward revision to house price growth in the last quarter (from 3.1 to 2 per cent) and in the March quarter (from 4.2 to 3.4 per cent), contributing to the weaker than expected annual result.

"Overall, house price growth has clearly moderated as housing affordability deteriorated sharply following a strong lift in prices; rapid (150 basis point) RBA rate hikes; and the expiry of the first home owner boost last year. Indeed, house prices are now broadly flat," wrote UBS economist George Tharenou in a note.

However, he also notes the weak data is not a large surprise, given that the most recent RP Data index was out on Friday and showed a 0.4 per cent seasonally adjusted decline in capital city home values during the September quarter.

It also measures rest of state house prices, which were down 0.9 per cent in the quarter.

The ABS data showed considerable variation between the performance in different capitals, with Melbourne prices up 2.7 per cent and Perth rising 0.4 per cent - although Melbourne's quarterly price increase was the lowest in the past year and a half.

But there were falls in five capitals, including a 2.1 per cent slide in Brisbane, a 1.4 per cent decline in Hobart and Adelaide, and a 0.9 per cent dip in Sydney - the city's first fall since the March quarter of 2009.

Home owners paying off mortgages can take some heart from the results, according to Citi economist Joshua Williamson, with the subdued house price growth further easing pressure on the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates this year.

"The easing in prices across a number of capital cities shows that households are reacting rationally to rises in borrowing costs and previous falls in affordability," he wrote in a note on the figures.

"It importantly indicates that housing demand is coming back to that which can be fundamentally supported by growth rates in incomes and population growth rather than anything speculative. This will keep the RBA from worrying about abnormal asset price growth."