Property sales on Waiheke Island fell to the lowest level for years last month.

Agents are describing the market as quieter than they have seen it "for a very long time", according to Waiheke Real Estate manager and salesperson Paul Brisbane.

Only 317 properties on the island sold in the year to June 2017, compared to 425 the year before.

The number of sales on Waiheke last month dropped by more than 60 per cent, with only 14 sales compared to 37 in June 2016.

Paul Brisbane, Waiheke Ray White principal Matthew Smith, and Harcourts business development manager for Waiheke Andrew Duncan said new real estate rules are slowing the market.

The government has introduced the bright-line test, which requires income tax to be paid on gains from selling most residential properties within two years of the purchase date.

"Asian buyers are pulling out of Auckland and investors have disappeared due to higher loan-to-value ratio rules and the bright-line," Brisbane said.

Duncan said property investors need a 40 per cent deposit on mortgage loans as part of new loan-to-value ratio restrictions.

It makes buying an investment home on Waiheke for your future retirement a little trickier," Duncan said.

"Fewer overseas funds being are brought into New Zealand to buy property compared to this time last year, so there is not as much money being pumped into the wider Auckland market."

Matthew Smith said the new lending rules had put off both investors and people buying more affordable properties.

"There is more interest in the higher end of the market, with a number of sales over $3 million.

"With the tightening of loan-to-value ratio requirements, the below $1 million market has slowed significantly," Smith said.

The island's average house price for the first half of this year was $1,322,579.

This has increased from $1,029,932 during the first six months of last year, Smith said.

According to Brisbane and Smith, the real estate market often goes quiet in an election year.

The highest price paid for property on Waiheke over the past year was $11.75m for a waterfront home in Sandy Bay.