Deposit Power Guarantees, which provides an alternative to paying a cash deposit on a house, is about to crank up its marketing efforts in New Zealand.

Williams & Kettle shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of splitting the company's 31.9% stake in the unlisted New Zealand Rural Property Trust (NZRPT) and the trust's management contract into a separate unlisted company Rural Equities (REL).

While the housing market remains strong and house prices should rise a bit further, the latest immigration numbers suggest now is the time to bail out, according to Bank of New Zealand chief economist Tony Alexander.

Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard says that he would be prepared to raise interest rates to prevent a housing price bubble but says that would only happen in rare circumstances.

State-owned Kiwibank has raised its floating rate 20 basis points, even though wholesale interest rates have been almost static since before Christmas.

ASB Bank's latest housing confidence survey throws up some contrary findings.

Mortgage Link New Zealand founder Roger Poulter has sold his 34% stake in the company to its licenced brokers and staff and some new licensees.

Asteron, formerly Royal & SunAlliance Financial Services and a subsidiary of listed insurance company Promina, is planning to enter the mortgage lending market early in the second quarter of this year.

All the economists at the major mortgage lending banks are in a rare state of unanimity: they all think the rise in the New Zealand dollar has been sufficient to prevent the Reserve Bank from raising interest rates later this month.

All the economists at the major mortgage lending banks are in a rare state of unanimity: they all think the rise in the New Zealand dollar has been sufficient to prevent the Reserve Bank from raising interest rates later this month.

The housing market continued to roar late last year with new housing consents in November at their highest level for that month since 1973.

Former lenders look to establish their own broking group.

House prices are likely to rise a further 10% to 15% next year but they will fall "to some unforecastable extent" in 2005, according to Bank of New Zealand chief economist Tony Alexander.

The threat of rising interest rates (and an actual increase from Westpac Bank) failed to take any of the steam out of the housing market.