February sees leap in sales and asking price

"This is the highest asking price ever recorded in the five years since Realestate.co.nz started tracking the market data," the company said.

The report revealed 13,459 new listings came onto the market in February, 58% more than January and an 18% increase on February 2011. On a seasonally adjusted basis, new listings are up 14% from January 2012.

Chief executive Alistair Helm said the rise in both new listings and asking price indicated sellers were finally responding to the ongoing high demand for property, as the market continued to lean in their favour.

"Since the demand for property has not slowed, it's almost surprising that we have not seen the increase in asking price until now," he said.