He said in some cases buyers were demanding their offers be put to sellers as soon as the property was listed, and had the expectation agents would encourage them to accept the offer.
Mr Lovegrove said some buyers were becoming disheartened trying to buy a property as they knew values were rising.
He had noticed a trend towards higher value properties moving well and said his agency had seen several street records.
"The current market sentiment is that there are still more buyers than there are properties."
Anita Martelli from Ray White Rotorua said the market in Rotorua was "just so positive" - and it wasn't just people relocating who were driving that.
"People who are living here are more than happy to take the next step up... it just seems everyone is very positive."
She said interest was right up across the board and there was pressure at all price points.
"It is pushing [prices] up when you are getting into multi-offers, especially if buyers have missed out on something before."
LJ Hooker Rotorua principal Malcolm Forsyth said they were still seeing multi-offers, but the market wasn't quite as competitive as it had been last year.
"You still have to be quick, you cannot be mucking around."
Gareth and Deyna Muller were worried rising property prices could put their dream home out of reach but after seven months of hunting they have finally found their dream home.
Mr Muller said the couple spent every weekend at open homes.
"It was fun at the beginning but as time went on the prices just kept going up and up. Every weekend were battling with the Aucklanders. It got to the point where we would go to open homes and the agents would straight out ask 'are you local or from Auckland?'."
He said their hopes faded in November and they decided to take a break from house hunting.
"We took two weeks off and went on holiday and came back and started again."
On Christmas Eve they found their dream home - a lifestyle property at Waikite Valley - made an offer and it was accepted.
"Finally after seven months of ups and down and putting in offers and losing a bit of light came through. We are extremely happy."
Nationwide residential property values for March increased 12.9 per cent over the past year, and 0.6 per cent over the past three months.
The average value nationwide is $631,432 which is now 52.4 per cent above the previous 2007 market peak.
QV House Price Index for March
Average current value $391,910
Increase of 28.2 per cent in past 12 months
Up 4.5 per cent in past three months
Now sites 33.5 per cent above market peak.
Average values at March
Rotorua: $391,910
Tauranga: $676,381
Taupo: $435,052
Whakatane: $398,552
Kawerau: $171,118
Opotiki: $269, 729
- QV
