New Zealand annual house sales have risen for the first time in 13 months, driven by higher value properties while the market's lower end is crimped by Reserve Bank mortgage lending restrictions.

The number of houses sold rose 6.5 per cent to 7,416 in November, from the same month in 2013, the Real Estate Institute said in a statement on Wednesday.

The national median sale price rose 7.2 per cent to a record $NZ455,750.

The housing market was more buoyant for properties over $NZ1 million, where volumes increased 27 per cent from 2013, contrasting with fewer sales of houses priced below $NZ400,000, where volumes declined 3.8 per cent, the institute said.

In October 2013, the Reserve Bank introduced loan-to-value mortgage lending restrictions in an attempt to cool the housing market and shore up financial stability.

“The November data shows there was an element of buoyancy returning to parts of the real estate market,” institute chief executive Helen O’Sullivan said.

“The top end of the market is driving the overall rise in the national and some regional median prices, while those dwellings in the lower deciles are seeing less price growth and a lack of buyer capacity which may be related to the LVR restrictions currently in place.”

Auckland and earthquake devastated Canterbury continued to account for the most of the movement in prices.

Some 64 per cent of the increase in the national median price occurred in Auckland, which reached a record median price of $NZ670,000, while the Canterbury/Westland region accounted for 12 per cent of the increase and reached a record median price of $NZ417,000.

The Waikato/Bay of Plenty and Wellington regions also set new record median prices of $NZ360,000 and $NZ425,000 respectively.

By Tina Morrison