The four homes made famous by The Block last year could be worth 10 per cent more than what they sold for in today's skyrocketing market, says a real estate agent who marketed one of the properties.

Now that we know what the Reserve Bank is doing by way of curbs on low-deposit mortgage lending the question is whether it will work, writes Brian Fallow.

New loan restrictions mean the "poor middle-class" hoping to buy their first home will be left out in the cold as banks cherry pick their ideal customers.

New controls on mortgage lending, which increase the deposit required to secure a home, will shut more New Zealanders out of the market, economists say.

Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler said banks will be subject to restrictions on high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) housing mortgage loans from October 1.

Ngati Whatua o Orakei is working on big plans for 230 residential properties on 25ha of Auckland, spread throughout the North Shore's Bayswater and Belmont areas.

Ngati Whatua might develop up to 100 residences on its 4.2ha Wakakura block near Devonport.

Home insurance policies have been rewritten thanks to Canterbury quakes - and not in policy holder's favour.

"Each time there are flurries of outrage from groups of tenants facing a 21- year land rent review, my first thought is, what did they expect?" writes Brian Rudman.

The list makes for alarming reading - real estate agents forging signatures, bad-mouthing properties for sale and giving false or misleading information when they were under investigation.

The latest KiwiSaver changes to assist first-home buyers appears to be a small band-aid, compared with a capital gains tax, writes Peter Bromhead.

The Government fired another shot in its battle to control rising house prices yesterday, announcing law changes it says will curb charges levied by local authorities on developers for providing infrastructure such as roads and sewerage to new subdivision

New Zealand buildings including houses will increasingly be manufactured in bulk in factories and assembled on site, and the consenting process will have to change accordingly, says Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson.

The Reserve Bank has moved a step closer to curbing the low-equity housing loans that banks can make.

Cross-lease property dispute escalates into costly legal stoush and ruling to demolish illegal structures.

It will be another two years before Auckland Council has a single direct debit system for rates, making life difficult for some ratepayers in the meantime.

The council has promised to cap rates rises at 10 per cent, but some confused residents have seen their bills leap by almost twice that.

Aucklanders' rates bills have arrived in letterboxes and the figures have come as a shock to some homeowers who have seen rises of 10 per cent.

House price inflation creates no new output and few jobs. It consigns young first-home buyers to a life of debt servitude, writes Peter Lyons.

Expectations that house prices will rise remain at very high levels last seen in 2003 at the outset of the mid-2000s boom.

A newborn baby and now for the first home - except things are not so straightforward in Auckland's heated property market.

Ali and Casey Williams are getting ready to sell their Westmere home before heading to France.

The creative juices must have been flowing when a fruit drink magnate's celebrated new house was on the drawing board.

A house was auctioned for more than $1 million just a day after being listed for sale - drawing an official warning about Auckland's pressure-cooker housing market.

Christchurch and Auckland property prices still increasing as regions slow over winter, figures show.

The Auckland Council has a team of 40 people assembled and 110 potential sites to fast-track the construction of 39,000 new homes in the city over three years.

Single dad Tommy Sutton has looked at about 10 rental properties in two weeks in South Auckland but all have been out of his price range.

Housing New Zealand says its heritage Symonds St Flats in central Auckland have leaks and all 34 tenants must leave to allow repairs or refurbishment.

A High Court battle looms after property developers linked to a string of liquidated companies invoked a little-known clause to get out of an agreement to sell newly-builthomes.