If you're coming to New Zealand for a couple of years, what's the best thing to do? We reprint a reader's query and one response from a local mortgage broker.

An innovative pairing between lawyers and estate agents goes live next month, with proponents hoping it will give a good shake-up to the real estate industry.

It's hard to believe but it's true. Banks and lenders are telling people how to save money on their biggest financial commitment - their home loan
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ANZ is launching a cut-rate home loan product next week that offers discounted interest charges for the life of the loan.

Confidence in the housing market has continued to fall, as home buyers take their time before making any major financial commitment.

New Zealand Guardian Trust, which stopped writing mortgages last year because of liquidity issues, is planning to resume its lending business in the next month or so.

A floating rate of 8.8 per cent at the ANZ and WestpacTrust? Ouch!

Residential house sales may be looking gloomy, but that's not all that's happening in the property market.
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Yet another hike in the Reserve Bank's Official Cash Rate, which went up to 6.5 per cent yesterday, means that mortgage lenders are likely to put up floating rates pretty smartly.

Better and more timely rental information is the aim of an online database being set up by the Residential Property Investor magazine.

New Zealand households may now be feeling the pinch of higher interest rates and a dip in wealth, said NZIER director Alex Sundakov today.

A peak of 9 to 9.5 per cent, rather than 10 per cent, is now considered as more likely for floating mortgage rates this year.

Residential property investors need to take a more businesslike approach, according to the Real Estate Institute and the Auckland Property Investors Association.

Attributes such as independence, professionalism and approachability are being ascribed to mortgage brokers, says KPMG, and are behind their growing popularity.

Interest margins have continued to decline, thanks in part to intense competition for mortgage lending, says the latest KPMG financial institutions performance survey.

Auckland-based NewBuild Home Finance has launched a financial package for people borrowing to build a new home.