House prices hit record high but sales slip

Rising interest rates are being blamed for dampening the market.

The latest figures show that 7854 homes were sold last month, 36 per cent down on the 10,687 sold in September last year.

The biggest fall was in houses worth less than $400,000.

The number of these sales dropped from 9046 in September 2003 to 6336 last month.

Hawke's Bay was one of three regions in the country where prices weakened during the month. The region's median sale price fell from $211,500 in August to $196,100 last month.

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