Real Estate Company Barfoot&Thompson has revealed a large slip in Auckland residential property sales in April compared to March, posting that property investors seem to be tentative ahead of the 2010 budget, which aim to do away with tax breaks.

However, feels that the decline is a traditional pattern.

Barfoot&Thompson, Managing Director Peter Thompson today, quoted, "The combination of falling sales numbers and stable prices is common for April, and those familiar with traditional Auckland trading patterns will read nothing significant into this month's trading."

The company's 671 sales last month marked a fall 27.6 percent compared to the March figure, while the average price registered a squeeze of less than 1 percent to $541,486.

At the similar level the average price was nearly $38,000 higher than in April 2009.

Last month's 1312 new listings were witnessed as robust, and although lowered 21.5 percent on those for March, were 12.2 percent higher than figures recorded in April last year.

While actual sales witnessing a slip in April from March, on a seasonally adjusted basis there was an improvement of 6.4 percent against the previous month, although year-on-year sales were lowered 17.2 percent.