A 157 per cent Auckland Council rates rise and a 140 per cent operating costs increase have been blamed for the axing of guaranteed rental returns on a city apartment block.

Auckland residents eager to find out the new value of their home have been disappointed this morning after the Council's website crashed.

Auckland property owners will today find out the new value of their homes when the Auckland Council releases individual capital valuations online.

Labour's leadership contest has turned into a showdown on the party's capital gains tax policy, with Andrew Little and David Parker at loggerheads over its future.

The public will get the chance to look into how the other half - or maybe the other 1 per cent - lives, with a tour through the homes of Auckland's elite in some of the city's swankiest suburbs on November 22.

House values throughout New Zealand rose 1.1pc in the past three months, the slowest rise in two years, according to QV data out.

Auckland land prices have surged, spurring owners to almost double the size of their houses in the past four decades.

Eighty Special Housing Areas, due to contain about 40,000 sites or residences, have been approved throughout the Auckland region.

Auckland Council's Ree Anderson talks to Anne Gibson about Special Housing Areas.

Young aspiring Auckland house-buyers are not spendthrifts frittering their money on weekend entertainment but victims of an over-priced real estate sector, says an economist.

Twenty-three buildings taller than 200 metres are currently being planned or built in Melbourne, many by Asian developers.

Getting a mortgage is much harder than it was before the global financial crisis. No longer will banks lend willy-nilly.

A bylaw banning open fires and old woodburners in Auckland has been kicked for touch by Auckland council.

Council figures show 116,000 Auckland households are now expected to face a rates increase of more than 10 per cent, under a policy released today.

Young, aspiring Auckland first-home buyers are not saving enough, says a real estate agency boss, encouraging them to lower their expectations and spend less.

Andrew Dickens writes: Much of Auckland was unaware of New Windsor until last week when it was revealed that property prices have shot up 58 per cent in the past three years.

The Block may be a hit with viewers - but the reality TV show's creators aren't popular with some of the neighbours, with 111 complaints.

A do-up North Shore property with basic facilities, exposed plywood floor panels and an overgrown yard strewn with junk is for sale for $629k - $269k above its CV.

Auckland has the nation's highest rate of homeowners still paying off their mortgages and the lowest proportion who own their home mortgage-free.

Million-dollar views on a slim budget have sparked a flood of interest in a luxury apartment on Auckland's waterfront.

In the three years I've lived in New York, I've never owned a lawnmower. Of course I haven't.

The Block NZ favourites Alex and Corban Walls have a secret beachfront holiday home at a Northland paradise and rent it out for up to $1000 a night.

A coastal Northland property purchased for just $9000 in 1974 is commanding a price tag around $1.6 million.

Welcome to Newell St - an otherwise sleepy dead-end road in one of Auckland's hottest city fringe suburbs - median sales price last month: $1.134 million.

The Kiwi dream dies reluctantly. The Prime Minister is no doubt right when he suggests that young people dismayed by the latest rise in house values should look at an apartment for their first step on the ladder.

Single-level Auckland brick-and-tile units are fetching record sums, often double the capital values assessed three years ago.

Rate rises will hit double digits in Auckland's hottest suburbs unless the council takes action on other fronts, says the council's finance boss.