After a brief reprieve in March, Auckland’s property market retreated into hibernation in April, with sales numbers falling and prices edging down, according to the city’s largest estate agent, Barfoot & Thompson.

“Based on the number of sales made in April, winter has come early for the Auckland housing market,” said Peter Thompson, managing director of Barfoot & Thompson. “We sold 473 homes in the month, a decline of 38% on sales in March, and you need to go back 22 years to find a comparable sales number in April.

“The median price at $995,000 (£495,000) was down 2.9% on that for March and down 2.1% on the average price for the previous three months. This is the first time in 16 months that the median price has fallen below $1m.”

Thompson added: “It means that buyers who are prepared to commit are buying properties comparable to where prices were at 24 months ago. In spite of slow sales numbers, new listings continue to reach the market, and in April we listed 1,090 new properties. While modest for the month of April, it gives potential buyers new options, with total listings at month’s end being 4,684.”