The national average house price at the end of October was $951,040, while it was $816,213 in Hastings at the same time according to QV data.
Hawke's Bay QV registered valuer Damien Hall said in the statement that it felt like the region was in a stabilising phase.
"Some pockets are still moderately strong, but the majority are not," Hall said.
He said purchasers had all the negotiating power.
"With interest rates looking set to rise further, it's really going to start to bite severely for many – but especially those who purchased at or around the peak in the market."
Stuart Christensen, Tremains central region general manager, said the price decrease would definitely create some opportunities for first home buyers, but other factors would also play a role in whether they can capitalise on it.
"It is just the question of, if they have obviously the deposit, but also the serviceability with the increase in interest rates to be able to make that happen," Christensen said.
He said the downward trend would eventually level out.
"If you look historically, you always have people on the move in the new year, people will come back from holiday and go "alright, it's time to move", so you'll always get that little surge over Christmas and the New Year. How that looks remains to be seen."
He said they have continued to see out of town buyers express interest in Hawke's Bay, with more coming to the region in the past few weeks to find out what it would be like to purchase property and live there.
"Hawke's Bay is in the middle of Auckland and Wellington, we have (a) great climate, housing is still affordable," he said.
"We haven't really seen the investors coming back into the market, so that is an opportunity for first home buyers."
The other major centres to hit double digit percentage declines in house price this year so far are Wellington at 17.6 per cent, Auckland at 11.7 per cent, Hamilton at 10.5 percent, Palmerston North at 13.7 per cent and Dunedin at 10.4 per cent.
