House prices in the Bay of Plenty reached record medians in the month of February, according to the latest figures by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.

REINZ figures released today show the Bay of Plenty and Waikato region jointly reached a new median house price of $350,000, up from $342,500 in January, and $324,500 in February last year.

In Tauranga alone the median house price increased by 4.7 per cent on the same time last year with the median price rising $17,000 – from $360,000 in February 2013 to $377,000 in 2014.

In Mount Maunganui median house prices also jumped, not only on the same time last year, but also by 13 per cent on the month of January.

In January 2014 the median price was $410,000, compared to February's $464,500. This is also up 7.5 per cent on February 2013's $432,000.

A total of 119 houses were sold in Tauranga last month, and 110 in the Mount Maunganui/Papamoa regions.

The Waikato and Bay of Plenty made up 13 per cent of the total increase in the national median price, with Auckland making up 63 per cent and Canterbury the other 16 per cent. Together these three regions accounted for 89 per cent of the increase in the median price between February 2013 and February 2014.

The region also saw an improvement of two fewer days in the time to sell a house in February 2014, compared to February 2013.

Nationally, sales were down 7.6 per cent on the same time last year with a total of 6125 dwellings sold in February, but were up by 29.8 per cent on January.

The national median price of $415,000 was an increase of $33,000, or 8.6 per cent, compared to February 2013, and an increase of $13,000 or 3.2 per cent from January.

'The results for February show further evidence the national sales volume trend is easing, with only two of 12 regions showing an increase in sales volumes compared to February 2013,” says REINZ CEO Helen O'Sullivan.

'Market feedback suggests that first homebuyers may be tentatively returning – with some assistance - to certain markets. This is by no means a consistent message, with views decidedly mixed across the country; some regions are reporting increasing interest from first home buyers, while others report little in the way of activity.”

Helen says despite the total number of sales being down 7.6 per cent compared to February last year, the number of sales in the $600,000 to $1 million price bracket is up 9.2 per cent.

'This may indicate that while first home buyers are mostly sitting on the sidelines, the focus on the market has moved to higher price ranges, with a subsequent upward influence on the median price.”