A council has gone to extreme lengths to create safer neighbourhoods by preventing home owners from building garages ahead of the house, and forcing more living on to the front yard with little privacy.

Just over four months ago, printer Layton Armstrong and vet Charmaine Abraham began house-hunting in the Otahuhu/Mt Wellington area, looking at places going for about $400,000.

A real estate agent is alleged to be the central link in a drug-dealing enterprise which supplied methamphetamine throughout the country.

Editorial: In one swoop, all houses built before World War II will be deemed to have special merit. Never mind that in any period a mixture of good, average and awful homes are built.

The Auckland Council is considering a ban on demolishing tens of thousands of heritage and character homes unless owners can prove they are beyond repair.

An Auckland developer says Chinese are using property as a ticket into this country because owning real estate increases immigration visa points.

Police and fire safety officers are investigating the cause of a blaze that destroyed an upmarket Auckland home, almost killing the owner.

Auckland currently has capacity for thousands of dwellings on existing greenfield land, writes Len Brown. "So the issue is clearly more than just land supply."

It's almost as good as claiming Lotto's first-division prize - hot homes in Auckland's frantic housing market are selling well above their official valuations.

A Remuera split-level home is tucked in the bush, finds Joanna Smith.

Fed-up Aucklanders are reinvigorating stagnant seaside property markets as they buy up retreats from city life.

This two-storey concrete block-and-cedar-clad home has seductive views of Tamaki Estuary and the Hauraki Gulf.

Estate agents have been given the all-clear to describe houses as architecturally designed - even if the creators are not registered professionals.

Non-resident Asians are buying Auckland houses and apartments to enhance their marriage prospects, an academic claims.

Any young Aucklander seeking to buy a first home, knows from bitter experience that the sainted "market" is failing to deliver homes they can afford, writes Brian Rudman.

Editorial: It sounds so simple it raises the question why the present Government has not done it, or the previous Government for that matter,

See a reply of our live chat about property and real estate with Wendy Alexander, chief executive of real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson.

Contrary to all that is being said, newly-built houses have never been more affordable, but that assertion requires explanation, writes Bob Jones.

An "exceptional'' renovation of a Matua home has seen a Tauranga construction company awarded one of New Zealand's premier building awards.

Labour leader David Shearer has unveiled a new affordable housing policy to build 100,000 basic homes for first home buyers.

Survey shows Aucklanders don't think it's a good time to buy a home, but mood in regions remains buoyant.

A house in Whangamata has sold for $3.6 million - believed to be a record price for the summer hot spot.

The housing crisis is complex and many years in the making, but even so the current Government's response is woefully inadequate, writes Tapu Misa.