House buyers refused to heed Reserve Bank warnings against increased spending and pushed prices up by $5000 across the country last month.
The new $295,000 median in the Real Estate Institute survey set a record as the highest national price, up on the $290,000 median of September and $280,000 inAugust.
The Auckland region's median also increased last month, but by a more modest $1000.
But the number of sales fell and this is one of the key indicators which bank analysts use to track the market's health.
Last month 8513 properties were sold, down on 9186 in September.
Institute president Howard Morley said this was uncharacteristic for the busy spring period when sales volumes generally rose. But the jury was still out on whether interest rate rises would quench housing demand.
"By this time next month we will have a clearer picture whether the recent attempts by the Reserve Bank to use higher interest rates to bring the market back have had any effect," Mr Morley said.
Darren Gibbs, senior economist with Deutsche Bank, said the latest figures showed a different picture from that released by Quotable Value this month showing a price drop.
Activity in the housing sector remained high by historic standards, he said.
Houses were taking just 30 days to sell on average, well under the historic average of 40 days.
Mr Gibbs expects the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates by half a per cent on December 8.
