A court was told this morning that businesswoman May Wang owes the company Latitude Asia $2.5 million.

Strategic Finance's trustee has appointed liquidators to the failed property lender - saying they will have wider powers than the receivers to scrutinise deals made.

It's clear the economy has become dependent on the debt growth fuelled by the housing market's ever-increasing values.

For the 240 investors in Fiji's Denarau Hilton, the past 18 months have been anything but paradise.

NZers will look back on the winter of 2010 as the moment we finally realised the last decade of growth was a sham.

House prices firmed up last month, but turnover stayed low said the Real Estate Institute.

Auckland house sales slumped 16pc in June, with the average sale price falling 3.6pc from a year ago, says real estate firm Barfoot & Thompson.

Westpac economists expect house prices to fall about 2 per cent this year and another 2 per cent next year.

House prices will fall gently for the next two years before levelling out, says a leading bank economist.

New Zealand's housing market is "still way overpriced" by international measures, says Finance Minister Bill English.

Receivers have taken control of the company which manages one of Auckland's top hotels, the Westin Lighter Quay.

Allied Farmers says it will not be making a $5 million payment to Hanover Finance.