The Real Estate Institute says house sales hit the highest level for a February month, in eight years.
Sales rose 13 percent last month, compared with the same period a year earlier.
Institute chief executive, Colleen Milne, said the improvement was partly due to a slow month, in January.
The national median house price rose 3.6 percent to $430,000.
Auckland continues to stand out from the rest of the country. Colleen Milne says the region's prices jumped 14 percent to $675,000.
The Reserve Bank has left the Official Cash Rate (OCR) unchanged at 3.5 percent
An analyst says it will need a major outside event to reduce the property bubble pushing Auckland house prices ever higher. Audio
The average price of a house has gone past half a million dollars for the first time, up from $489,000 in January, according to the latest monthly data.
An economist says the second successive month of falls in the number of consents for new houses and apartments is surprising.
January house sales and prices dropped last month but are still up compared to January last year.
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