Investors and home owners are reaping rewards of the region's property market, with new research showing many are making an average $193,000 profit from on-selling houses.
Latest figures from CoreLogic's latest Pain and Gain Report show total re-sale gains of $3.5 billion nationwide, for a median gain of $181,000 per property.
For most in Hawke's Bay, the gains were even better, CoreLogic data revealed.
In Hawke's Bay, the median re-sale gains in the second quarter of the year peaked at $193,000 in Napier, where "strong median gains reflect the growth in wider property values" in the local market in recent years.
Read more: QV seeing houses re-listed due to slow-down in value
Hawke's Bay house prices remain consistent
Combined, all re-sold properties over the quarter generated total gains of $49m.
Total resale gains in Hastings were even greater, hitting a total of $65m, with a median profit gain of $168,300 per re-sold property.
CoreLogic analysed the homes that were sold during the three months to June 30, comparing the most recent sale price to the previous sale price to determine whether the property sold at a gross profit or gross loss.
Hawke's Bay realtor Tremains pointed out that while the "dollar" gains in Napier were higher than Hastings, the actual percentage gains were similar for both cities.
"For me, that just comes back to average house price. The higher the house, the percentage profit is probably similar but if you are talking dollars then obviously it's higher," managing director Simon Tremain said.
"It's amazing actually, how close the volume of sales is for each city. Everything is very similar in both cities but the average house price in Napier is higher than Hastings.
"Given the way our market has moved, I would have thought most sellers will be selling at a profit at the moment."
While the old rule of thumb was to hold on to property for about seven years, people were moving property on faster now.
"A lot of people are looking at the market and trying to take their profit to do two investments next time round. People have made really good gains and then looked to turn that profit into other opportunities."