Thousands of Kiwis desperate to get on the property ladder are signing up to 30-year mortgages - but many are saddling themselves with a lifetime of debt.

A specialist apartment real estate agency boss is starting up a new business to encourage people to become landlords by finding, buying and managing Auckland residential properties.

Labour would be able to offer first home buyers two-bedroom properties in Auckland for as little as $360,000 if elected, party leader David Cunliffe announced today.

The country's busiest house builder, which expects to put up a third more homes this year, has welcomed the Government's KiwiSaver boost announced on Sunday.

Auckland's quarter-acre dream is far from over - huge sections of more than half an acre are being sold from $350,000 within the city boundaries.

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.

National is promising that grants for first-home buyers on modest incomes will be doubled if it is re-elected next month. What do you think of the policy?

National is promising grants for first-home buyers on modest incomes will be doubled - to up to $20k for a couple buying a newly built home - if it is re-elected next month.

New Zealand First dismissed National’s first-home buyer policy – but also took a swing at Labour for being a party for “gays, lesbians and the loony intelligent left”.

Prime Minister John Key has kicked off National's election campaign in South Auckland with a boost to Government assistance for low and middle income first-time buyers.

Homeowners are often portrayed as millionaires-in-waiting, but investing in property is not easy, writes Andrew Bruce.

Some homeowners will be hoping for massive capital gains and others fearing the sharp end of spiralling rates bills as Auckland's property market soars.

Property values in Auckland have skyrocketed since 2011, but residents should not to be alarmed about imminent rates increases. PLUS: See how the valuations have changed.

Sea views, landscaped gardens and private jetties are usually prized real estate features.

Plans for a lavish clifftop mansion - the unrealised dream home of former bankrupted Sensation Yachts owner Ivan Erceg - can be revealed for the first time.

I find it remarkable that Labour's proposed capital gains tax has generated so little debate.

Rising interest rates have yet to dent people's expectations that house prices will continue to rise over the year ahead, especially in Auckland and Canterbury.

House sales fell 13 per cent in July as winter cooled the appetite of house hunters, but the national median price is still up $31,000 from a year earlier.

A rustic-style timber-clad high rise apartment block, has won a design competition to showcase more intensive Auckland building styles.

A subdivision for 60 houses at Helensville is being criticised by youth lobby group Generation Zero as a bad case of urban sprawl and costly for ratepayers.

Rising interest rates, LVR restrictions and the onset of winter have taken the heat out of the housing market, according to just released QV figures.

Labour and the Green Party have conceded that a capital gains tax would not be a "panacea" for New Zealand's unaffordable housing crisis.

Hate apartment blocks? Then take a closer look at these five, shortlisted in a competition to win over Aucklanders sceptical about their city's intensification.

Donghua Liu has pleaded guilty to charges laid by the Auckland Council over building works on two properties worth more than $6 million in plush suburbs.

Auckland's biggest real estate agency, Barfoot & Thompson, said their house sale volumes fell in July, blaming winter and the election.