Newcastle unit prices have taken their biggest monthly hit since the property downturn began, according to data from analysts CoreLogic.
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The median price of a unit across the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas plunged 1.9 per cent to $466,000 in March and is now down 9.7 per cent from its market peak.
In contrast to apartment sales, house prices fell only 0.6 per cent, to $545,000, which equates to a 7.8 per cent drop from their peak a little more than 12 months ago.
The fall in apartment prices adds to some concern in the Newcastle property sector that some of the city's high-profile developments may be shelved.
One developer who spoke to the Newcastle Herald on the condition of anonymity predicted that few, if any, new cranes would rise over the inner-city in the near future, though other developers have said waterfront developments and other projects with a point of difference could proceed.
READ MORE: Empire Hotel curse strikes again
The Herald reported in March that developer Warwick Miller had abandoned plans for the 15-storey Onyx unit block on the former Empire Hotel site due to slow sales.
The acceleration in the decline in unit prices follows a modest 0.3 per cent price fall in February, according to CoreLogic.
The median apartment price fell 1.7 per cent in November, but March's 1.9 per cent drop is the biggest since the market began surging five years ago.
Combined house and unit prices have fallen 7.5 per cent in Newcastle and 8.5 per cent in Illawarra in the past 12 months, making them two of the weakest regional performers in that time.
"The weakest performers across the regional markets tend to be a combination of agricultural regions as well as the areas adjacent to the Sydney metropolitan region where market conditions are showing a similar trend to Sydney's downturn, albeit with a slight lag," the CoreLogic report says.
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