Sales of million-dollar plus properties in the Bay are up on last year, bucking a national decrease driven by a drop in Auckland sales.
In the first half of 2017 there were 180 properties sold for more than a million across the region, according to new figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.
That was an 18 per cent increase on the same period in 2016, when 152 such properties sold.
In the year to June four Bay of Plenty properties sold for over $3 million and one fetched over $5 million.
Nationwide the number dropped 4 per cent mostly driven by Auckland, which saw an 8 per cent drop.
Excluding Auckland, sales were up 16 per cent throughout the rest of New Zealand.
Some regions saw record numbers of million plus sales: Hawkes Bay, Nelson, Taranaki, Tasman, Waikato and Wellington.
Auckland had more than 50 $5m plus sales for the first time, nearly 80% of which were in the legacy Auckland City area.
Institute chief executive Bindi Norwell said it was a sign the market was stabilising.
"Even at the top end of the market we're starting to see signs of stabilisation occurring - in part due to loan to value ratios continuing to have a greater impact on people's ability to purchase property."
She said the stabilisation could also be due to buyers starting to take into account interest rate predictions over the next 12-18 months.
"This will have a significant impact on how people structure their mortgages when purchasing these high-end properties."
Ms Norwell said it would be interesting to see the impact of the election on the high-end of the market as people tended to take more of a 'wait and see- approach in election years.