So remember how 2016 was meant to be the year the housing bubble started to seriously deflate? Well in the major city markets of Sydney and Melbourne little oxygen escaped with dwelling values rising more than 15 per cent and more than 13 per cent respectively.

The love affair with residential property doesn't appear to be over yet.

The yearly gains were boosted by a surge in prices over December after more modest gains in November - an outcome that few had anticipated.

With capital growth of still more than 10 per cent for 2016 calendar across the five biggest capital cities combined it's easy to see why investors demand for residential property remained strong - despite attempts by regulators to limit finance to cool demand and by banks to increase the cost of investor borrowing.