The average house price in New Zealand fell to $345,000 in April, down from $349,000 in March.

The number of houses sold in April was the lowest for at least 10 years.

REINZ President Mr Murray Cleland commented, “April shows that the loss of confidence in the housing market is deeper than we had anticipated.”

Auckland sales were down by 52 per cent from 2,843 in April 2007 to just 1,350 sales in April 2008. Wellington and Christchurch fared somewhat better with sales down 33 per cent and 45 per cent respectively on last year’s numbers.

“Auckland seems to be most affected by the loss of confidence, and it does tend to be something of a barometer of the market being the first to rise in good times and the first to fall when things turn sour,” Mr Cleland said.

However, median prices stabilised a little during the month with a number of regions actually recording price rises compared with a month earlier.

“About the only glimmer of hope was the fact that a number of regions saw their median prices recover. However the trend overall is for declining house values.”

• House prices are 1.1 percent lower than a year ago, when New Zealand’s median house price was $349,000.
• Sales of properties fell from 8,194 in April 2007 to 4,464 in April 2008. This was the lowest number of sales in April since at least 1999.
• The average number of days to sell a house was 44, the highest in April since 2001.

Compared with prices in March, seven out of New Zealand’s twelve regions reported price rises in April, and five reported falls.

On an annual basis, seven of the twelve regions saw an increase in prices and five reported falls.

Annual NZ House Price Changes