The sale of lifestyle blocks is booming with figures showing sales were up by 40 percent in the three months to September compared with the same period last year.
The Real Estate Institute's Brian Peacocke said the value of lifestyle properties sold reached a new record of $5.5 billion for the year to September.
Mr Peacocke said lifestyle block sales had been steadily increasing across the country.
"The dominant part of the market from a volume point of view is always Auckland and that is by the far the biggest part of the marketplace and things are very strong in that part of the world."
He said there was also "solid activity" in the Canterbury region.
"It's interesting from what we hear, the push for the Christchurch market has swung away from north of the city more to the south and that's driven to some degree by issues related to traffic congestion."
He said sales slowed in the south once prices hit $1 million but not so the Auckland region.
"We've got strong demand for properties from $1 million to $4 million depending on what's involved with a specific property."