Unsurprisingly, the Government's state housing sale to the Salvation Army fell over. And so it should as it was a bad idea, writes Bob Jones.

"March is always the most active month for property sales, but there has never been a month's trading to compare with the past month," Barfoot and Thompson said.

Spending massive amounts on overpriced objects feels wrong. It's a harbinger of the apocalypse, writes Matt Heath. Anyway, the other day I bought a house in central Auckland.

A $21,404.80 unpaid rates bill is owed on an Arch Hill house but one of its owners is refusing to pay due to a property dispute.

Entry-level Auckland home buyers are opting for older houses on smaller sections in need of considerable DIY work.

Struggling to buy their first home in Auckland, with twins and another baby on the way, James and Barbara Ryan "did the only thing that made sense", and left.

Nearly one in five Auckland first-home buyers now spends more than six years saving for a deposit, delaying the home ownership dream while prices rise.

Council valuations are out of date, with homes selling in Auckland's market on average for more than 15 per cent above their figure of six months ago.

An Auckland couple paid just $125,000 for a $1.57 million four-bedroom Grammar zone character Greenlane house yesterday.

Houses in eight Auckland suburbs south of the CBD topped national value rises, up a "whopping" 17.9 per cent annually, according to QV data just out.

Mortgage payments for Auckland's most affordable homes are costing first-time buyers nearly half their take-home pay each week, a new report shows.

Auckland Council is chasing unpaid rates of $300,595.02 on eight properties and court action has begun to result in forced sales.

A sprawling lakefront property where former Takapuna mayor Fred Thomas and his wife, Mary, raised their nine children is for sale by tender.

The High Court has ruled that an Auckland North Shore property at 2/57 Northboro Rd, Belmont must be sold because of $59,393 unpaid rates.

This week, Finance Minister Bill English was dealt a blow by the Salvation Army, which rejected his suggestion it buy Housing New Zealand stock.

A set of four run-down pensioner flats have been spruced up in a $350,000 renovation which is expected to attract first-home buyers.

A real estate agent who left a vendor liable for a second commission while pocketing a $47,500 fee from a buyer has been found guilty of misconduct.

Three houses being renovated on TV One's Our First Home won't go anywhere near the $1 million mark each when they are auctioned next month, an investment expert believes.

Waiheke's biggest landowner is challenging zoning classifications on parts of its holdings on the island's eastern tip in the Stony Batter Historic Reserve war fortifications vicinity.

One of Auckland's most spectacular penthouses - but one with a litigious history - is for sale 16 months after the luxury pad was last bought, fetching $4.7 million.

Facing huge bills to fix their leaky houses, more homeowners have joined the new $100 million-plus leaky home class action.

Councils may soon face private sector competition for issuing building consents again, as part of a Government drive to make housing more affordable.

A two-bedroom entry-level home in Mt Wellington drew an unprecedented 21 offers as desperate first-home buyers battle to break into Auckland's heated property market.

New Zealand has zero affordable housing markets, according to the '11th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey'.