PHOTO: 123RF Auckland house prices fell by 2.7 per cent over the year to a median $856,000.
Difficulty getting finance is being blamed for a slump in house sales around the country.
Excluding Auckland, the number of homes sold in New Zealand fell 10.5 per cent in March compared to the same time last year.
Auckland’s sales fell 18.2 per cent year-on-year – but there were still more sales in the city than there had been in four months.
Gisborne had the biggest fall in turnover, with sales down 33.3 per cent.
Bindi Norwell, Real Estate Institute chief executive said: “At a time when sales volumes are normally very strong and total sales figures for the country are typically well over the 7000 mark, with 6938 sales this was the lowest number of properties sold for the month of March since March 2011.
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