A woman who walked away from her multi-million dollar Auckland house has failed to get legal costs in a battle over freezing assets.

The battle between National and Labour for the political high ground on housing affordability is a battle fought in large measure with statistics, writes John Armstrong.

Expectations that house prices have further to rise remain high in ASB's quarterly survey of housing market sentiment.

April house sales figures show mortgage lending restrictions are hitting the bottom end of the property market the hardest as the number of house sales under $400,000 fell sharply in the past year.

Another legal expert has raised concerns about the ownership of solar panels fixed to homes, backing this month's warning from Auckland District Law Society vice-president Joanna Pidgeon.

The number of house sales fell 20 per cent last month, with sales declining across all regions, but prices continue to rise, latest figures show.

If the hike in your rates bill seems less of a leap this year, enjoy it while you can.

The strength of the surge in net immigration will influence both the outlook for interest rates and how long loan-to-value ratio curbs remain in place, says Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Grant Spencer.

The Reserve Bank's curbs on bank lending to low deposit borrowers could be removed by the end of the year.

First home buyer numbers had picked up nationally in March according to new figures from QV out today. So what happened where you live? Check our infographic.

The announcement of 41 new "special housing areas" across Auckland will allow 18,000 new homes to be fast-tracked.

A third tranche of "Special Housing Areas" will create 18,000 new residences across Auckland. Click here for details and maps of the new areas, announced today.

Auckland mayor Len Brown has just announced a 'significant' number of new approvals of special housing areas will be revealed today.

The three-bedroom bungalow with an asking price of nearly $900,000 in Sandringham is "a compelling call to first-home buyers", the agent says.

The average Auckland house sale price and volumes achieved by the city's biggest real estate agency dropped from $725,708 in March to $708,603 last month.

First-home buyers in Auckland pay almost $200 more a week in mortgage repayments than those starting on the property ladder nationally.

The Government and its political allies have gone on the attack over Labour’s ground-breaking interest rates and savings policy, after signs the plan was getting traction.

A rising supply of "flexi-room" apartments has drawn a warning from authorities - people who use the undersized areas as bedrooms could be fined.

A company developing one of New Zealand's biggest, most intensive affordable housing estates has been put in receivership.

Finance Minister Bill English has rubbished Labour's new Kiwisaver plan, but the policy has received support from employers.

Kiwibank has increased its interest rates just as the Labour party gears up to reveal its proposed changes to monetary policy this morning.

Auckland house values have risen up to 51.9 per cent in the past three years, which will impact on rates bills next year.

Homeowners are rushing to fix their mortgage interest rates after the second cash rate increase in as many months.

The Reserve Bank has increased the Official Cash Rate by 25 basis points to 3 per cent this morning.

Community and iwi groups have asked the Govt to sell them up to a fifth of the country's 69,000 state houses at a discount of up to about half of market values.

Interest rates could peak at a level which would see first-home buyers in Auckland spending two-thirds of household income paying the mortgage.

The proportion of house sales to first-home buyers has gone down in 90 Auckland suburbs since the Reserve Bank's mortgage lending limits came in.

A real estate agency boss has backed a call this week by finance minister Bill English to relax rules designed to stamp out so-called "shoebox apartments".