Good Returns sister site ShareChat (www.sharechat.co.nz) regularly runs Investor Interviews with key ceos. In this one Jenny Ruth talks to TOWER managing director Keith Taylor.

Economists currently think short-term wholesale interest rates, and therefore floating mortgage rates, are heading higher, especially since the New Zealand economy has been growing faster than expected and global growth is picking up.

Although housing consents are still at historically high levels, housing construction activity has declined for the fourth month in a row.

While the level of housing activity remains high, the housing market is easing "at a fairly hasty clip," Bank of New Zealand chief economist Tony Alexander says.

The lenders mortgage brokers recommend their clients don’t necessarily follow the same pattern as the lenders’ overall market shares, suggesting that brokers are having at least some influence in determining those market shares.

Real Estate Institute president Graeme Woodley says the latest latest house sale figures will disappoint "a body of commentators and those anxious to promote real estate books and investment seminars, who had been predicting a collapse in the residential property market."

Nearly 18 months after it launched its first product, Superbank is gearing up to offer home loans.

Nearly 18 months after it launched its first product, Superbank is gearing up to offer home loans.

For once, economists are all of the same mind: the Reserve Bank will raise interest rates again on Thursday and will leave the door open for a further rate hike.

For once, economists are all of the same mind: the Reserve Bank will raise interest rates again on Thursday and will leave the door open for a further rate hike.

Mortgage Choice in Australia has been censured by an Australian regulator for using the word "unbiased" in its advertising and could be forced to pay compensation to up to 50,000 of its customers.

The latest housing consents figures contain a few suggestions that the long-awaited slowdown in the housing market may be starting.

The housing boom is far from over, but the latest figures suggest a little less froth.

Tower has reported a significant turn-around in profitability

Mortgage brokers aren’t the only people involved in the housing market to be paid commissions by the banks: all five of the major home lending banks have confirmed they pay in some form people such as real estate agents for referrals for home loans.

Bank of New Zealand’s anti-broker campaign is having a significant impact on banking industry profit margins across the board, says Brian Hayr, senior manager of third party origination at National Bank.