House price inflation finally subsided somewhat in February after accelerating for the best part of a year, the latest Quotable Value figures show.

Returns from investing in New Zealand commercial property have reached an all time high, with almost all sectors showing significant increases from returns in December 2004, says Property Council national director Connal Townsend.

A key finding of a new housing study stresses the impact that land prices have on new house supply noting that factors that push up land prices stifle new house-building activity.

The study investigates changes in regional housing markets in New Zealand between 1981 and 2004 and was carried out by Arthur Grimes and Andrew Aitken, Motu. The project was jointly funded by CHRANZ, the Departm

Trend figures show a continued high level for non-residential building consent values and slowing growth for residential building consent values, Statistics New Zealand says.

Property Investment Analysis (PIA) is a software program designed to make it easy for investors to analyse and evaluate prospective investment properties.

The residential property market struggled through January in low gear but prices mostly held up, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).

The market appeared at first sight to take some heed from the Reserve Bank’s recent warnings, with a drop in sales, but January sales traditionally dip according to REINZ, and the national median price was back up to its November hi

House price inflation is continuing to accelerate despite the Reserve Bank raising interest rates and widespread expectations that it should be abating, according to the latest Quotable Value figures.

There are signs that the Auckland housing market is starting to soften quite considerably.

Sentiment about the housing market has tempered in the last three months but a healthy majority still expect house prices to keep rising.

Proposed changes to rental housing laws could make the housing shortage worse by driving people away from owning rental properties, says National's Housing spokesman, Phil Heatley.

Competition and more competition - that's the current theme as lenders cut their fixed rates to attract borrowers as floating rates look like being stable for a while.

Property investors are being warned they may face substantial building costs if they own pre-1965 buildings that do not meet new earthquake-proof requirements.

Although the Reserve Bank is trying to jawbone down the property market New Zealanders still see residential rental property as the asset that is most widely expected to provide the best return.

Auckland property prices reached a new record high in December according to the latest sales figures from real estate firm Barfoot & Thompson.

House price inflation accelerated again in December, continuing to confound expectations the housing market is poised to slow, according to the latest Quotable Value figures.

The Reserve Bank is expecting house prices to fall in real terms over the next few years and if the housing market doesn't cool soon, that fall could be even sharper.