Q: This sounds like a dumb question, but I know nothing about finance, and I'd be grateful for your help.

Q: I am 44 with two kids, 7 and 9. I have savings of $100,000 but do not own a house. My income is about $1600 a month, which just covers my expenses. My rental is about $200 a week. I am concerned about my ability to own a house and put the kids through school and retire. What would you propose?

SYDNEY: Australia's property market is finding a floor with house auction clearance rates in the country's two most populous cities rising in June, industry research shows.

Kiwibank made the most interesting change to its home loan rates last week, dropping its five-year rate a full 51 basis points to 6.99%.

The deaths of a father and son-in-law developing team have left dozens of Tauranga homeowners unable to sue over leaky buildings the pair built.

In the face of dire predictions from economists, property prices continued to steam higher last month Quotable Value (QV) said.

House price inflation is accelerated further in June, according to the latest Quotable Value figures.

The national residential property market rose 14.2% in value for the June year, up from 13.5% in the year to May, says Quotable Value.

A multi-million-dollar Taupo retail development is about to take another step closer.

Just 18 months after buying Guardian Healthcare Group for $110 million, Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) has agreed to sell New Zealand's biggest private rest home operator for $300 million to Australian company DCA Group Ltd.

The uranium sector, big retailers and the aged care sector are likely to be the focus of much of the investment activity across the Tasman this financial year, according to financial services provider KPMG.

Christchurch house prices continue to rise faster than most of New Zealand's, confounding predictions of an imminent slowdown.

Developers have been given consent to subdivide a 140ha coastal farm and forestry property in the eastern Bay of Islands into 17 large lifestyle blocks.

In the face of dire predictions from economists, property prices continued to steam higher last month, says Quotable Value.

Hot demand for office space in Wellington and industrial buildings in Auckland helped commercial property produce its best ever returns in the year to March, figures from the Property Council show.

Owners of pre-1930 inner city Wellington homes planning major alterations or demolition of their properties could face extra costs and delays under a plan to protect the city's character.