Managing director of Tremain Real Estate Simon Tremain said the median price was low due to excess property on the market.
"It is really great to see Hawke's Bay sale volumes increasing. At the end of the day, median price hasn't moved yet but there has been a bit of an excess of supply in the market.
"But as volume sales increase that will put outward pressure on price and should bring the medium sale price up."
Mr Tremain said the rise in property sales was due to good interest rates and Government initiatives.
"The increase in sales has been predominantly because of interest rates coming back when they were forecasted to go up.
"We are now seeing good long-term fixed rates in the market place and obviously, the Governments move to offer grants for first home buyers and the ability for them to withdraw KiwiSaver money is a huge boost to the first home buyers' market," he said.
"That is really the market that needs to move and obviously, we need investors back in and they will come in once they feel there is capital growth. We are seeing both happening at the moment and there is also a bit of flow out from the cities like Auckland of people moving to the regions."
Mr Tremain said the market was starting to shift to a sellers' market.
"It has been a buyers' market but that certainly seems to be moving. As we see better sale volumes in the region that will make it a sellers' market."
New Zealand wide there were 8803 dwellings sold in March 2015, an increase of 20.3 per cent on March 2014.
The national median price of dwellings was $475,000 - up $35,000 or 8 per cent on last year.
REINZ chief executive Colleen Milne said the increase had been propelled by the Auckland market.
"March is the strongest sales month of the year, with almost 1400 more sales than for any of the past 12 months. While the increase in the number of sales is more or less spread across the country, the movement in the national median price is almost entirely an Auckland effect.
"Across the rest of the country, sales volumes and median prices are far better balanced, with a number of regions reporting good sales numbers, good listings and plenty of activity," she said.
"The national median price, excluding Auckland, has remained at $350,000 for the past two months, indicating supply and demand are far more balanced outside of Auckland."
Nationally, the value of residential sales, including sections, was $5.381 billion in March, compared to $4.069 billion in March last year. NZME.
