"Our market has certainly picked up volume-wise. February was a good month and it has got better in March. It is a long time since we have cracked the hundred mark.
"We are now getting people moving into Rotorua and we haven't had that for a long time. For about six or seven years now, house sales have been varied with people moving around, so it is quite exciting that it has picked up."
Mr McDowell said the number of people from Auckland, and other places around New Zealand, now in Rotorua had boosted the property market.
"We are getting people from Auckland who have sold their homes, gotten good prices and have now been able to buy a good home in Rotorua and have money left over.
"They are seeing the lifestyle in Rotorua with the lakes, and the mountain biking and everything like that and they see it as a good place to live," he said.
"We have even sold a few properties recently to people who are just keen on mountain biking and want to get out of the rat race of Auckland."
Despite the increase in sales, the property market in Rotorua was still a buyers' market, Mr McDowell said.
"We have got a lot of stock but it is winding back a little bit. Although it is a buyers' market, the buyers out there are genuine and they are signing contracts."
New Zealand-wide there were 8803 dwellings sold in March an increase of 20.3 per cent on March 2014.
The national median price of dwellings was $475,000.
REINZ chief executive Colleen Milne said:
"The national median price, excluding Auckland, has remained at $350,000 for the past two months, indicating that supply and demand are far more balanced outside of Auckland."
