Property values throughout Hawke's Bay have jumped in price compared with the same time last year.
Property Brokers Hawke's Bay regional manager Paul Whitaker said the local market had been building with strong momentum which made up for the weeks lost during the holiday period.
"The second half of January and the whole of February are building up to be really strong months which will hopefully take us into a strong autumn," he said.
More 170 properties sold in the area last month.
Simon Tremain of Tremain Real Estate said there was a lack of supply in the Hawke's By market for retirees.
"We have a demand for housing over the medium to high end," Mr Tremain said.
While the Auckland market was "rocking along" it was only a matter of time before Hawke's Bay followed.
"I'm sure we will see our median price start to increase over 2013.
"We haven't seen it in the numbers yet but there are a lot more people out there doing things, there are more buyers out there - investors and speculators.
"It is starting to get back to how it was in 2006-2007."
Nationally, the median sales price dropped from December's record of $389,000 to $370,000 last month.
But January's median was up 4.3 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) Residential Market Report
REINZ chief executive Helen O'Sullivan said the housing market was highly seasonal.
"Prices and volumes tend to ease from their year end levels in January, as marketing campaigns for many properties in the upper price bracket don't begin until the latter half of the month."
Meanwhile, the average national residential property value has edged 2.6 per cent above the previous market peak of late 2007, according to new figures from QV.
The latest QV property value index shows residential values nationwide continued to climb in January.
Values were up 1.5 per cent over the past three months and 6.2 per cent over the past year.
QV.co.nz research director Jonno Ingerson said it had been a relatively strong start to the year for the property market, carrying on from the increased activity seen in late 2012.
While regional values were not rising at the same speed as Auckland and Canterbury, an increase in confidence was signalled across most of the country, Mr Ingerson said.
Values in most provincial regions increased by only 1 to 1.5 per cent over the past three months - the exceptions being Rotorua (down 1.7 per cent) and Queenstown Lakes (down 0.6 per cent).
Meanwhile, Westpac announced new interest rate cuts on Monday to its fixed mortgage rates - prompting suggestions of a renewed interest rate battle between major banks.
Average property values
Source: PropertyIQ