Median house prices declined in many centres, including Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington, in April

Auckland's median house price declined to $812,000 in April from $820,000 in March (-1%), while the number of homes sold in the region declined by 13.2% compared to March, according to the Real Estate Institute of NZ.

Prices and sales volumes also declined in Hamilton in April, where the median price of $458,000 was down 3% compared to March and the number of home sold was down 10.6% compared to March.

In Tauranga April's median of $537,500 was up 5.1% compared to March but the number of homes sold declined by 15.9% for the month.

In nearby Mt Maunganui/Papamoa, April's median price of $622,500 was up 1% compared to March but the number of sales was down a whopping 23.8%.

In Wellington there was also a downturn in both prices and sales volumes, with April's median price of $455,000 down 0.9% compared to March and the number of homes sold down 19.9% for the month.

In Nelson the median price was down 2.6% for the month while sales volumes were down 9% and in Christchurch April's median price of $450,000 was up 1.1% for the month but the number of homes sold was down 15.7%.

Across the entire country there were 8568 residential sales in April, which was down 10.1% compared to March but up 18.4% compared to April last year.

The national median sales price was $490,000 in April, down $5000 (1%) compared to March but up by $35,000 (7.7%) for the year.

Within the Auckland region, the decline in the median price for the month was limited to suburbs within the former Auckland City Council boundaries, where April's median price of $900,000 was down 6.5% compared to March.

But the median price was up in all other districts led by the North Shore where it was up 5% for the month, and Rodney where it rose by 4.5%.

However sales volumes were down significantly in most parts of the region, dropping 22.3% in the former Auckland City council boundaries, and declining 18.3% in the North Shore and declining 13.9% in Waitakere.

"The April data confirms the continued strength of the real estate market right across New Zealand, driven by a chronic lack of supply," REINZ chief executive Colleen Milne said.

"Anecdotal evidence suggests that investors outside of Auckland are increasingly looking to real estate investments to improve their yields compared to bank deposits," she said.

Click on the link below to download the full REINZ report for all regions in April. You can also track changes in the median price in all regions on the interactive chart at the end of this article.