The market for small low-cost houses by commercial group builders is gathering pace, as cash-strapped Aucklanders squeeze in and up.

A buyer keen on Hobsonville Pt's smallest of three new prototype houses couldn't close the purchase, partly because of financial barriers and the tiny size of the house.

Youths waving toy guns out of a car sparked an armed police and helicopter callout yesterday.

Blame it on the cycleways, the artwork and the market, but cycling advocate Barbara Cuthbert just can't stay away.

A 20ha block of land at Hobsonville set aside for the marine industry will now be used for housing after a vote by Auckland councillors today.

Two teenagers who pleaded guilty to manslaughter following the death of their friend in an illegal west Auckland street race will not go to jail.

Four years since work started at northwest Auckland's 3,000-residence Hobsonville Pt housing estate, the 150th house is about to be finished.

Two teenagers have appeared in an Auckland court charged with manslaughter over an alleged street race which caused the death of another teen.

A teenage boy was killed when he was hit by a car driven by his friends while playing a game of "possum" on a west Auckland road yesterday, says a resident.

The tornado which ripped through Hobsonville and Whenuapai in Auckland last December cost the insurance industry $8.7 million, the Insurance Council of New Zealand says.

New Zealand's first school built under a public-private partnership opened its doors to students today.

Bill English should look into a mirror next time he points the finger at Auckland Council for not doing enough to encourage affordable housing, writes Brian Rudman.

Danielle Wright is swept off her feet by Hobsonville's contrasts of modern and historical - as well as by some unexpected gusts.

The wife of a former air force sergeant who murdered his first wife and buried her in a forest is standing by her husband.

A woman who happened across a fatal road accident in west Auckland yesterday discovered the dead man was her partner.