THE number of buyers snapping up Newcastle property priced at $1 million or above has almost doubled in the past year, figures show.

This is despite continued interest rate rises and talk of another in May.

The figures, from independent property advisors Herron Todd White, also show there was more than one $1 million-plus sale a week, with 56 such sales reported last year.

The 2007 median sales price in this bracket was $1.394 million, up $144,000 and by 18 sales on the previous year.

The top three suburbs were Bar Beach, with a median price of $1.6 million, Cooks Hill, at $1.347 million and Merewether, at $1.309 million.

There has been an abundance of top-end sales throughout the inner-city in the past two months.

The best was the grand blue mansion known as Jesmond House, overlooking the ocean at 10 Barker Street, The Hill, sold for a reported $7 million.

A circa-1888 weatherboard house a stone's throw away at 16 The Terrace, The Hill, and overlooking King Edward Park was auctioned this month for $1.9 million.

A five-bedroom house opposite Merewether Beach sold at auction last month for $2.3 million and a four-bedroom house opposite Bar Beach was auctioned this month for $2.7 million.

Herron Todd White Newcastle and Hunter Region director Nick Payne said the typical buyers of such property were those in executive roles moving to the region from the capital cities namely Sydney and Brisbane.

But Walkom Linehans First National agent Sonia Walkom, who sold three of the properties, said most buyers were Newcastle-based people who jumped at the chance to secure a tightly-held property.

"Newcastle is a wealthy city," she said.

"Sydney people might be buying around the Lake, around Toronto and those places but it's Newcastle people who appreciate what we have here and who have waited for these properties to come up, that are buying.

"It's prime real estate that has been offered and people are jumping on them.

"Some of these properties have not come up [for sale] for more than 60 years."

Robinson Property director Guy Robinson agreed, saying Sydney buyers were prevalent in Port Stephens but were "almost non-existent" in the local market.

"Generally speaking, the local buyers are self-made people rather than big corporate or government salary earners," he said.

"With many properties selling for a large percentage of land value rather than house value, we see that the better positioned homes will continue to rise in value, and increases of 50 per cent or more over the next one to two years would not surprise."