Housing prices have recorded a 0.5 per cent drop in April following a solid 2.8 per cent gain over the first three months of 2013.

The RP Data-Rismark Home Value Index found that city dwelling values recorded their first month-on-month decline since December last year, posting a uniform 0.5 per cent decrease across all capital cities indexes.

RP Data’s director of research, Tim Lawless, said that the decline in housing prices represents more of stumble on the path to recovery, rather than any real changes to trend in value falls.

"When viewed in line with other metrics such as auction clearance rates, private treaty indicators and some improvement in housing finance demand, it is likely that the negative April result will be a blip along the path to recovery,” Mr Lawless said.

Mr Lawless said that there was little expectation that the growth seen in the first quarter of the year would carry on into April.

"We weren’t expecting that the high rate of growth evidenced over the first three months of the year would be sustained into April. A more measured pace of growth is a much more realistic outcome for the Australian housing market, especially considering that the first quarter is typically the strongest for value growth,” Mr Lawless aid.

Softer capital city dwelling values were recorded across every capital city apart from Adelaide where dwelling values were up 2.8 per cent over the month and in Darwin where values rose by 0.2 per cent.

According to Mr Lawless, the April results for Adelaide should be interpreted with some caution.

"The strong month-on-month result for Adelaide is more likely the result of natural volatility across a relatively small market rather than the any sort of sustainable surge in dwelling values over the month," Mr Lawless said.

Across the major cities, Sydney values were down -0.4 per cent over the month, Melbourne values saw a -0.5 per cent drop, Brisbane values were down -0.7 per cent. Perth values recorded a -2.5 per cent fall.