News articles

Commercial property returns plummet to 16-year low

31 Aug 2009: Commercial investment property has posted its lowest returns in 16 years, according to the Property Council. read more >>

Owners get handy for added interest

30 Aug 2009: Increasing numbers of home buyers are reaching for their toolbelts to turn "do-ups" into dream homes. read more >>

Do-up guru: Detail is the key

30 Aug 2009: Gary Harvey is a do-up guru - he's bought and renovated some 20 houses over the past 15 years. read more >>

Soaring dollar does little to clip buyers' wings

29 Aug 2009: It's not often a real estate agent sells the building his company's head office is in, but in David Bayley's case it has resulted in this year's largest commercial property sale to an offshore investor despite problems caused by the rapid rise of the kiwi dollar. read more >>

Strong lift in July building consents

28 Aug 2009: The number of consents for new dwellings lifted strongly last month, particularly when apartment numbers were excluded. read more >>

Brian Fallow: Time to add GST to rents and mortgages

27 Aug 2009: Here's a suggestion for the tax working group set up to figure out how to put the tax system on a more durable and efficient footing to consider: scrap the provision exempting mortgage payments and rents from GST. read more >>

Innocent buyers in need of protection

24 Aug 2009: Immigrants are being saddled with leaky homes, unwittingly buying into our national disaster, says a Remuera real estate agent. read more >>

Agents get daring in a soft market

23 Aug 2009: There was a time when real estate agents used innocuous phrases such as "quiet family home" and "Grammar zone" to lure buyers out of the woodwork. read more >>

Housing market 'has bottomed'

20 Aug 2009: SYDNEY - Building and construction materials group Boral says the United States and Australian housing markets have bottomed but it is too early to predict when and how well they will recover. read more >>

Lack of houses for sale pushes up demand for sections, Harcourts says

19 Aug 2009: Harcourts CEO Bryan Thomson said anecdotal feedback from around the real estate group indicated the level of buyer interest in residential sections had risen notably in recent months, in part because of a shortage of houses for sale. Thomson said the renewed interest followed months of little or no enquiry and had lifted Harcourts’ number of section sales. read more >>

Farm sales plummet in July - dairy sales down nearly 80pc

18 Aug 2009: Farm sales have ground to a near halt as the slide in the all-important dairy payout has forced both banks and farm buyers onto the sidelines. read more >>

Why homebuyers should assume a 10% mortgage rate

18 Aug 2009: By Bernard Hickey read more >>

Home buyers need to know what they're doing - expert

17 Aug 2009: With a sharp rise in auctions and stiff competition for the same properties, buyers need to know what they're doing or they'll miss out, warned one real estate expert. read more >>

Houses 'going like hot cakes'

16 Aug 2009: Soaring demand for affordable residential real estate is seeing frenzied bidding by first-home buyers packing auctions in Auckland suburbs. read more >>

Mortgagee listings steady to falling

14 Aug 2009: read more >>

Harcourts sees big lift in auctions in July as sales rise slightly from June

14 Aug 2009: Harcourts has reported a slight increase in nationwide property sales in July from June as average sale prices rose in all but one of the five regions they report on. These figures come a week after Auckland’s largest real estate agency, Barfoot & Thompson, reported a 9.5% fall in sales volumes and a 2.8% fall in its average sale price in July. Harcourts is a national agency, but is strongest in Christchurch. read more >>

Kiwibank, ASB cut floating, raise fixed mortgage rates

13 Aug 2009: Kiwibank has followed BNZ in cutting its variable mortgage rates while raising fixed rates this morning. Kiwibank is the last of the regular banks to move in this latest round of fixed rate rises. read more >>

Auckland house prices tipped to rocket

12 Aug 2009: House prices to rise by 24pc, says new research Auckland house prices will rise by almost 30 per cent in the next three years putting the city ahead of every other region in New Zealand, a study predicts. read more >>

Westpac, SBS follow suit and raise mortgage rates

12 Aug 2009: Westpac and SBS Bank have followed ASB, ANZ and National Bank in raising longer term fixed mortgage rates to over 6.5 per cent, despite the Reserve Bank's promise to keep the Official Cash Rate at 2.5 per cent until late next year. read more >>

Couple first to get into home with city subsidy

10 Aug 2009: Archaeologists Daniel and Leah McCurdy have bought a $445,000 house for just over $300,000 thanks to an "affordable housing" scheme subsidised by Auckland City ratepayers. read more >>

Move to the 'burbs and save

9 Aug 2009: First-time homebuyers are being told to set aside suburb snobbery if they want to get on to the property ladder. read more >>

Tips to get top house prices

9 Aug 2009: After a tumultuous 18 months, the real estate market seems to be shaking off some of its malaise. Prices are showing signs of stability and sales volumes are increasing. read more >>

Apartment lending rules 'too restrictive'

6 Aug 2009: Real estate agents are complaining about banks' lending criteria on apartments. read more >>

Auckland property prices rise in July, sales up 24pc

6 Aug 2009: Auckland property prices rose in July, but local real estate firm Barfoot & Thompson says the hot action was in the number of sales - up nearly 24 per cent on the same month last year. read more >>

REINZ sale form flawed, says lawyer

5 Aug 2009: A law society boss is encouraging lawyers to reject a new contract out for buying and selling property. read more >>

Leaky home warranty announced

4 Aug 2009: A new-home warranty system has been announced as part of a shake-up of the construction industry to tackle the leaky-building disaster. read more >>

Councils brought up to standard on issuing building consents

4 Aug 2009: All New Zealand territorial authorities are now registered as building consent authorities. read more >>

Suburbs win over city

3 Aug 2009: With the Reserve Bank set to keep interest rates low well into next year, prospective first-home buyers have reason to feel more confident about plunging into the market. read more >>

Home-sale form alarms lawyers

3 Aug 2009: Homebuyers are being warned not to use a new sale-and-purchase agreement which may not allow them to cancel a deal if a pre-inspection report shows problems with the property. read more >>

Mansions back in the game

2 Aug 2009: Beaches. Swimming pools. Sculptures on sweeping lawns. The odd helicopter pad. Yes, multi-million house sales are back - and a few estate agents are smiling. read more >>