Keen buyer demand in Auckland and Christchurch and a lack of listings is continuing to dominate the housing market.
The Real Estate Institute saying sales jumped 17% to 6,135 in June, compared with the same period a year ago.
The average sale price rose 3% to a new record high of $372,000 while the average time to sell fell slightly to 37 days which is below the median of 41.
Chief executive Helen O'Sullivan says outside of Auckland and Christchurch, the housing market is steadily picking up.
She says it is a recovering market as opposed to resurgent or booming.
And compared to historical records she says the overall level of housing stock being sold is still relatively low.
Ms O'Sullivan says the shortage of listings is most acute in Auckland, where new home building is still sluggish and in Christchurch where the earthquake recovery is slowly getting under way.
The institute's house price index rose 5.3% in June compared with the same month a year earlier.
