Data suggested the impact of the revised home-to-value rules was having more of an effect on lower-priced sales compared with higher-priced sales, Real Estate Institute spokesman Bryan Thomson said on Monday.
The Reserve Bank introduced the higher deposit rules last month but retail banks adopted the tighter lending criteria earlier in anticipation of the changes.
When releasing the latest REINZ sales figures, Mr Thomson said there had been a surge in the percentage of sales above $1million and a noticeable fall in the number of sales below $400,000 in October compared with a year ago.
''Some of this change may be reflective of the overall uplift in prices over the past year as the market for higher-priced properties is continuing as normal but the market for lower-priced properties is becoming more difficult for both buyers and sellers.''
There was some evidence the normal spring ''bounce'' in the number of listings had been quite weak so far this year, he said.
One possible reason could be the revised rules making it harder for people to know whether to sell as they wondered if there were buyers about and held their properties back from the market.
''This could have the result we are seeing - supply falls but the demand is still there so prices keep rising.''
The median price across Otago rose $25,000 (9%) compared with October 2015. Prices rose 18% in Dunedin, 4% in South Otago and 1% in North Otago.
Compared with September the median price fell by $1000 (0.3%) - prices rising 9% in Dunedin, but falling 11% in North Otago and 1% in South Otago. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the median price rose 1% compared with September.
Sales across the region rose 7% compared with September. Sales rose 11% in Dunedin but were flat for North Otago and South Otago.
Compared with October 2015, sales fell 7%, with an increase of 38% in South Otago, but falling 12% in Dunedin and 4% in North Otago. On a seasonally adjusted basis sales rose 9% compared with September.
The number of properties for sale remains very tight, with 11 weeks of supply available.
Regional commentator Liz Nidd said the Housing Corporation grant for Dunedin was recently increased by $50,000 to $400,000 which was assisting more first-home buyers to acquire properties.
The demand from first-home buyers was being assisted by a noticeable decline in the number of investors active in the market. However, there was still a shortage of listings being felt across all price ranges, she said.
Nationally, three regions - Auckland, Northland, Waikato/Bay of Plenty - hit record high median sale prices and the national median price was $510,000 compared with $460,000 a year ago.
Southland equalled its record high of $225,000 reached in January 2008.
