Record December house sales in Hamilton failed to push the year's annual total past 2003's record.

The construction cost of new buildings rose 1.7 per cent in the December quarter.

Macquarie Goodman Industrial & Capital Trusts have bought 1.5ha next to their 5.5ha Mitchell industrial estate in the Alexandria suburb of South Sydney for $A19.13 million.

Bank of New Zealand chief economist Tony Alexander is still recommending that borrowers fix for two years, even though this rate has jumped since his bank called a halt to last year’s mortgages price war.

Thousands of Auckland homes are to be studied by a new leaky homes monitoring business in an effort to find the worst leaks, how they can be fixed and if the repairs work.

SYDNEY - Home-loan approvals in November increased more than expected as rising employment and confidence spurred demand for housing.

A quarter of New Zealanders would do nothing if a neighbour's security system went off, a survey shows.

The jury is still out on a multi-million dollar redevelopment of Otehei Bay.

Property developer Paul Alexander drives a top-line Ferrari and gets helicoptered to a million-dollar holiday home in Coromandel's exclusive Matarangi township - despite bankrupting himself six months ago because he owed more than $3 million to creditors.

A dispute over rent saw publicans Michael and Kay Maloney kept out of their New Plymouth bar yesterday, but it was business as usual by early evening.

The Tasman District Council is looking at rezoning rural land north of Hart and Bateup Rds for up to 400 sections, in what is described as a significant step in Richmond's development.

Australian investment managers predict an increase in alternative investment mandates and weaker returns for listed property securities, according to the latest Fearless Forecast survey by Mercer Investment Consulting.

Heritage protection was a major policy platform for the new Auckland City Council. When inner-city neighbourhoods are changing rapidly, preserving heritage buildings has become more important than ever.

Fletcher Building will spend $425.2 million on land in suburban Auckland and Queenstown to build housing estates for thousands of people.

Further signs that the housing market is cooling emerged today, with November new dwelling consents falling a seasonally adjusted 5.7 per cent, according to Statistics New Zealand.

A $5 million, five-star, 20-apartment development has been proposed for George St in north Dunedin to cater for short-to-medium stay travellers.