The Reserve Bank has kept its official cash rate unchanged at 2.5 per cent at today's monetary policy statement.

Auckland Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse says she is confident the Government will address concerns about provisions in new legislation.

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.

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

New Zealand property values held their annual pace of growth last month, as demand outstripped supply in Auckland and Christchurch, according to Quotable Value.

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.

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.

Lenders are offering home-owners the lowest short-term bank mortgage rates in New Zealand history as they compete to lure customers before an expected rise next year.

The Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler said the central bank had intervened in the currency market to take on the high New Zealand dollar in recent months and was prepared to "scale up" its activities if necessary.

Auckland's first mass affordable housing project, with homes priced from $320,000, could rise soon on a plant nursery site between Mt Wellington and Otahuhu.

Shandelle Battersby has just re-negotiated her mortgage.

Seattle's an economic engine, a leader in sustainability and a hub for culture and creativity, writes Dr Ann Bartos and John Mauro. It could easily be Auckland.

Auckland's 'frothy' housing market poses the biggest risk to the economy's strengthening recovery, the Institute of Economic Research says.

Auckland's booming residential market has pushed 10 new suburbs into the $1 million-plus club - raising the number to 17.

A rural village in West Auckland is set for a boost of 330 new homes.