The residential housing market has had a sluggish start to the year, with high mortgage rates continuing to suppress activity.

The latest data from property research firm CoreLogic showed there were 3169 sales in January, only 2 percent up from the same month last year.

It was the second-lowest January sales volume since 1983 - second only to the same month last year.

Average national property values rose 0.4 percent in January and was up 2.1 percent for the quarter, but was down 2.7 percent from a year ago.

"January's sluggishness in sales is a timely reminder that the housing market is still facing quite a bit of mortgage rate pressure," said CoreLogic NZ chief property economist Kelvin Davidson.

He said Auckland was the big drag on the low number of sales nationally.

However, he said there was still a "gradual upturn" in the housing market, as annual sales volumes have risen in each of the past nine months.

"Arguably, listing levels have returned to some kind of normality now, so the reduced sales over the past month probably hints at some uncertainty around buyer demand, rather than a lack of choice," Davidson said.

He said there may be a bounce-back in February due to a weaker January.

"It'll be interesting to see how sales and listing activity evolves in the next month or so, and how market confidence moves too," Davidson said.

"We suspect the demand would be there to match any additional supply coming on to the market, resulting in an associated rise in agreed sales activity as buyers can see more choice."

This story was originally posted by RNZ News