More than 1600 new apartment units are planned throughout suburban Auckland after a half-decade lull.

The Reserve Bank has announced it will lift the ratio of deposits to loans in order to take the heat out of the housing market, writes Gareth Morgan.

Calls of "shame" greeted Housing Minister Nick Smith when he arrived in Glen Innes to launch a redevelopment plan for the Tamaki area.

Australians are contributing to New Zealand's skyrocketing house prices, with new research showing they bought more property than any other overseas group.

The Prime Minister John Key believes first-home buyers should be exempt from proposed restrictions to low-deposit home lending.

Auckland's low-income suburbs of Glen Innes, Pt England and Panmure will roughly double in population under a draft plan for more intensive housing to be unveiled today.

The Reserve Bank is going to take action to cool the residential property market - and the 'speed limits' are a sensible move to rein in rampant house prices.

Auctions are being compressed into a shorter marketing period, which is "dumb and somewhat illogical", says property commentator Alistair Helm.

Nearly 40 per cent of properties sold in Auckland last month went by auction, Real Estate Institute figures show.

It's late in the afternoon and dozens of people are packed into two auction rooms in downtown Auckland.

May saw the best month for house sales in the past six years, according to monthly property stats released today by the Real Estate Institute (with graphics).

Auckland Council is sifting through 22,700 comments on its first regional rule book for growth.

The Auckland Council will today ask the Government to scrap provisions in new legislation allowing Wellington to take control of housing developments in Auckland.

House-hunters are seeing a return of "buy-off-the-plans" developments which advertise low deposits and no repayments until completion.

A bank economist has warned of consumer spending sprees and widespread economic fallout if house price rises continue.

'It's obscene.' Housing Minister Nick Smith isn't impressed by the large gains being made by rural land owners, aided by the "straightjacket" of city boundaries.

The building sector is expecting a rise in fortunes as the economy recovers and the Canterbury rebuild gets into full swing about 2016.

Top real estate agents are making up to $1.5 million a year as they cash in on soaring property prices.

A resource consent bid for a private helipad on the estate of the wealthy Spencer family on Stanley Pt has been refused by Auckland Council hearings commissioners.

Momentum in the Auckland property market appears to have stalled, with Barfoot and Thompson reporting another month of flat prices.

The house-building sector is experiencing its biggest surge in more than a decade as demand for new places.

New Zealand has the fourth-most overvalued property prices in the developed world, according to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

A marine industry chief says his sector has shunned Hobsonville's Yard 37 development because it distrusts Auckland Council.

Desperate house-hunters are rushing into purchases without legal advice as the "always-missing-out" experience drives up property prices.

Mathew Ryan recently rejoined the Auckland house-hunt - but says he won't be getting caught up in any scramble to secure a home.

Kohimarama residents say the draft Unitary Plan's proposals for five "walls" of apartment blocks reaching back from the popular Auckland beach on Tamaki Drive will blot out the reason they chose to live there: a connection to the sea.

Multimillionaire Charles Shrimpton has all but signed the paperwork for the sale of the last of three penthouse suites in Auckland's tallest apartment building - in deals worth nearly $10 million.