The number of referrals too had jumped from one or two a month to six or seven.
"We're definitely seeing an increase, without a doubt. I can put it down to the Auckland market - people are taking their money out of it. If people are re-investing [money in Auckland], they're not getting anywhere."
People who weren't dependent on the job market were looking toward Hawke's Bay for the lifestyle and the weather, Mr Whitaker said. It also gave them a chance to retire earlier.
"They're getting great bang for their buck,' he said.
"It's probably people who are not coming here to be work dependent; they're coming here to retire and to cash in."
These buyers were looking for properties in the mid to higher end of the market, valued at $400,000 or more.
"It's definitely making the mid-end of the market more buoyant for this time of year."
And it was driving prices up.
Ten offers were recently put in on a Napier property with a rateable value of about $420,000. It sold well above expectation, for $480,000.
"It's a sellers market."
Mr Whitaker said sellers should "get in quick" and take advantage because good prices were being paid.
"It's the best the market has been since 2007. It's the most buoyant winter in eight years."
Tremains Real Estate director and co-owner Simon Tremain said Aucklanders could get more for their money in Hawke's Bay.
"Aucklanders are selling up and coming down here, because what they can buy down here is substantially more than what they can buy up there. The gap's quite wide."
According to Realestate.co.nz. average asking prices for houses in Auckland was $793,260. The average asking price in Hawke's Bay was $369,109.
