House sale volumes and prices are dropping, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, which has just released its May sales figures.

An aerial image of Unitec's ambitious plans for its 53ha Mt Albert campus show dozens of apartments and townhouses squeezed onto its site.

A real estate agent who was censured and fined for listing a $1 million Auckland house in a lower price bracket than the sale price, has had the decision quashed.

Unitec wants to squeeze dozens of new residences on to the northern end of its Mt Albert site in a scheme which has stunned local representatives.

The average New Zealand house price rose by $98 a day or nearly $700 a week over the past year, a new analysis shows.

Web site Realestate.co.nz says house sellers' average asking price last month was at record levels.

If you live in Auckland and neighbouring houses have sold for unheard-of prices in the past two months, you can expect your home's official value to shoot up.

For the first time since the US housing crash, new condos are sprouting in Boston, Seattle and LA as developers bet on the return of the riskiest type of residential real estate.

"Oh, not another leaky building story!" an exasperated colleague complained to me in 2001.

With the exception of a few economic downturns, Americans have been building bigger and bigger houses since the Great Depression.

Nearly 5000 new Auckland apartments are either being built or planned.

A couple who sold their "dark", "sad" and "depressing" Auckland home before they realised there had been a suicide on the property have lost their bid to be compensated.

Landlords are too lenient when a tenant falls behind in rent or causes damage, property managers say.

It will be no surprise at all if the Reserve Bank raises the official cash rate again on Thursday to 3.25 per cent

The number of houses, flats and apartments valued under $400,000 in Auckland dropped by a third in the past 12 months.

An inner-city apartment in Auckland is on the market for $44,850 — less than the average price of a city carpark.

Auckland house prices have surged so much that the cost of just one bedroom in the suburb of Remuera is more than four times the price of an entire house in Tokoroa.

Areal estate brochure dug out from 1996 features a seven-bedroom villa in Herne Bay - now the country's most expensive suburb. The asking price? Just $190,000.

First time landlords are being warned to check how much tax they may need to pay on rental incomes ahead of the July 7 deadline.

A two-bedroom home with its original 1950s bathroom and kitchen and not in one of Auckland's hottest suburbs has sold for $1.08 million.

The heart of Silicon Valley and home to two of the three most valuable companies in the world, has a shortage of almost 54,000 affordable housing units to shelter its lowest-income workers.

A growing number of home buyers in the US are bringing an unusual tactic to the negotiating table: an all-cash offer.

The number of people buying homes with a deposit of less than 20 per cent is rising for the first time since the new mortgage-lending limits were introduced.

Pasifika people are drinking less, staying away from crime and doing better at school.

A done-up Ponsonby villa that was auctioned with more than $100,000 of extras to sweeten the deal pulled a top bid of $1.67 million.