Nationally, house values gained 6.5% on a year ago, to $672,645, and were up 1.2% for the past quarter, Quotable Value data for February showed yesterday.
Auckland's average value of $1.05million rose only 1% on a year ago and just 0.8% for the quarter, while Queenstown Lakes' $1.11million was up 7.2% on a year ago, but just 0.8% for the past quarter, QV National spokeswoman Andrea Rush said.
''Values continue to rise faster in Wellington, Dunedin and many regional centres than in Auckland,'' Ms Rush said in a statement.
QV's Dunedin property consultant Aidan Young said strong demand for residential property remained in the Dunedin market, but many buyers were becoming frustrated after missing out on properties.
''Buyers are not doing due diligence in many cases,'' Mr Young said in a statement.
Those buyers feared ''missing out'' if making offers conditional on due diligence and unconditional cash offers were becoming more common, he said.
All sectors of the Dunedin housing market appeared to be performing well, from the low to high range, and market sentiment was positive and reports were open homes were being well attended.
Ms Rush said ''Christchurch is the only main centre to see values drop over the past year, while many regional areas of the South Island continue to see values rise, including Nelson and Tasman, Central Otago and the Mackenzie District, as well as Southland and Invercargill.''
She said low interest rates and the easing in the Reserve Bank's loan-to-value ratio restrictions had made many more first-home buyers active in areas where they can still afford to enter the market.
She said some investors also appeared to be becoming more active in the market, now that they needed a slightly lower deposit.
Around the South Island, Ms Rush said the Mackenzie District continued to see a ''huge surge'' in growth. Values had risen 23.5% year-on-year and 8.1% over the past three months.
She said Southland had also seen strong growth, values up 17.7% year-on-year and 4.9% over the past quarter.
''Invercargill values also rose 10.2% year-on-year and 3.2% over the past three months, which is the strongest growth seen in the city since prior to the global financial crisis [of 2007-08],'' she said.
