Midwinter house sale numbers were up 37% across the country for July, with the Central Otago Lakes region booking one of the largest gains at 60%.
While the national median price rose 11.8% to $465,000, Auckland prices rose 20.5% to $735,000 for July, Otago prices were up 9.4% to $267,000 and the Central Otago Lakes prices were up 11.1% to $500,000.
Real Estate Institute of New Zealand chief executive Colleen Milne said the sales volume was exceptionally strong for the middle of winter, right across New Zealand, with very strong year-on-year sales growth in the top half of the North Island and Central Otago Lakes.
There were 8121 dwelling sales nationally in July 2015, up 37.8% on July 2014, and up 9.4% compared with June.
ASB senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown said between the current low levels of houses for sale and ASB's own housing confidence survey, house prices were still lifting and likely to continue doing so over coming months.
''And with turnover lifting, and days to sell very low, it's hard to conclude anything apart from the housing market remains very buoyant during what is normally the quiet time of the year,'' he said.
He expected continued strength in Auckland house price inflation during this year.
REINZ Otago regional director Lizz Nidd said for the past decade it averaged out at 43 days to sell a house in Otago, while July this year was down to 33.
''While there has been a small increase in listing numbers in the past two weeks, there is still a significant number of buyers waiting in the wings,'' she said.
Ms Milne said within the Central Otago Lakes region's 60.4% gain in sales numbers, Queenstown rose 72% while the Central region was up 52%.
''New subdivisions in the region are attracting plenty of interest from first home buyers, due in part to the allure of low interest rates for mortgages,'' she said.
Median house prices across Otago rose 9.4%, to $267,000, with South Otago's sale of 19 houses, up more than 70% from 11 a year ago, boosting the median price by almost 37% to $178,000.
Dunedin's median price rose 5.8% to $285,000, with sales numbers up 9.2%, from 142 homes a year ago to 155, while North Otago had a dual downturn in volume (down 15% to 27 homes sold) and pricing (down 0.6% to $200,000).
