A record number of new apartment approvals in July drove overall housing consents to be 62% above the level recorded in July last year.

Tower's Jim Minto wonders what BT Funds Management will be like under the control of a bank.

Banks are still taking fat margins on floating home loans, but have cut their margins on fixed rate mortgages.

ASB Bank's chief economist Anthony Byett says it's a good time to fix your mortgage.

Even the depths of winter didn’t dampen activity much in the housing market in July.

Resi Home Loans in Australia is developing a home loan product which suits the Muslim market, and New Zealand may follow suit.

The Reserve Bank has today left the Official Cash Rate (OCR) unchanged at 5.75% and opened the way for cuts in both floating and fixed rate mortgages.

New Stock Exchange ceo Mark Weldon wants to make major changes to the exchange including getting rid of the NCM and grey markets, and promoting derivatives trading. He also questions investors' asset allocations.

The Reserve Bank is expected to leave the Official Cash Rate at its current level of 5.75%, on Wednesday. The question is how will the major home lending banks, which already have high rates, respond.

Latest figures from the Reserve Bank show that mortgage borrowing levels continuue to grow.

New Zealand Home Loans says they hate revolving credit, or line of credit mortgages.

The winter effect hit the housing market with a vengeance in June with the number of sales falling sharply and the median house price easing from May, although the market remains buoyant compared with June last year.

Tower Corp managing director James Boonzaier is being forced to abandon a swag of hopelessly out-of-the-money options as he departs the company.

AMP Henderson has utilised an ancient partnership law to develop a tax-efficient fixed interest fund.

The actual number of housing consents fell in June, although they were up in seasonally adjusted terms.

Activity in the housing market has already peaked although housing construction should remain strong for the rest of this year, Deutsche Bank says.