Auckland's biggest real estate firm saw sales volumes drop to a three year low in February, while the median price is now some $62,000 below that seen in December.

Barfoot & Thompson reported today that the median price last month was $738,000, down 2.9% on the figure for January - but still 7.5% ahead of February 2015.

However, the median price has now dropped 7.75% from the $800,000 seen at the end of 2015.

In addition, sales in the latest month dropped to their lowest level in any month for three years, with just 698 sold, compared with 843 for the same month a year ago - that's a 17.2% fall. The company's reporting that new listings have now surged.

The was a big disparity between the median and reported 'average' sales price, which was $822,024 in February, up 1.3% on the average price for January and up 10% on February last year.

New rules for Auckland housing investors, aimed at dampening the Auckland market, were introduced by the Reserve Bank in November.

Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson explained the low number of sales in the month by saying that at the start of February the number of properties on the market was at its lowest number for 20 years, "and buyers had limited choice".

“However, as the month progressed more properties were listed, and we finished the month with 2060 new listings, the highest number in the past six months. There are currently an extremely high number of properties in the pipeline for settlement in March and April.

“At month end we had 3318 properties on our books, the highest since March last year, and we anticipate an extremely busy period through autumn.

“Another factor that affects the average and median sales price in the early part of the year is the summer break results in a relatively low number of sales in the $1 million plus price category. Throughout last year on average we sold 332 properties a month in the $1 million plus price category but in February the sales in this price category numbered 187.

“Sales of properties for under $500,000 in February made up 20.6% of all sales, whereas throughout last year they averaged 14.9% of sales.”

Thompson said while prices were down from their record highs, "based on past trends prices in coming months are most likely to build modestly".

“This trend has occurred over the past nine years where Auckland house prices have followed a cycle of falling in the first quarter of the year and then rising from autumn on."