Last year ended with a sales surge in the New Zealand residential real estate market with transactions up 24% in December compared with the same month in 2013.

It was the strongest December for sales since 2006 and the second strongest December on record, according to the data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).

The index also shows that the national median price, at $450,000 (£228,000), is up $23,000 on December 2013 but down $5,750 on November 2014. However, the Auckland median price reached a new record of $678,000 (£344,000).

Overall there has been an annual increase in the national median price of 5.4% over 2014 compared with 9.8% over 2013 and year on year sales were down 7% on the number sold in 2013.

‘The data for December shows very strong sales growth compared to 12 months ago and a much higher level of sales that we would normally expect for the final month of the year,’ said REINZ chief executive Helen O’Sullivan.

‘The effect has been seen right across the country, with a number of regions seeing further increases in sales in December after a strong November. The normal December slow down hasn’t really happened in 2014,’ she added.