Tens of millions in Government aid will be targeted at young low to middle-income families with children to help them buy their first homes.

Fears that all New Zealanders will soon be paying hefty council costs to rent out their holiday homes have prompted a call by the National Party for a law change.

Emma White's mum and dad disembarked a boat from Britain with only a bed and a wringer washing machine, and within a year they had bought their first home.

Already the signs are that buyers are taking on lower mortgages, stretching themselves less and making lower offers, according to the latest research from property websites assertahome.com and propertyfinder.com.

Press Release: Retirement Commission

Despite continued negative sentiment on the buy-to-let sector, 2004 turned out to be a strong year for investor landlords, with high growth in the size of property portfolios, sustained growth in tenant demand and strong profits for buy-to-let mortgage lenders. Landlords expect another year of growth in 2005, with numbers of properties owned expected to increase by 5% over the next 12 months.

New Zealand has been ranked fifth equal in a Wall St survey of world-wide economic freedom.

Hundreds of residential sections are being developed as New Plymouth embarks on an unprecedented home-building boom.

A report finds New Zealand is under-shopped compared with Australia, writes Greg Ninness.

Tenants should be celebrating but their landlords may be less happy at figures showing rents are not rising in most parts of New Zealand.

After such a great year for investors in 2004, it’s natural to ask whether 2005 will see a reversal. Certainly there are plenty of bears predicting just that (and perhaps hoping for worse). AMP Capital's assessment is that while returns won’t be as strong as they were in 2004, they should still be solid.

Fresh from a successful High Court battle, lobby group Urban Auckland is targeting one of New Zealand's newest waterfront apartment blocks in its campaign to improve the city's design.

The villa in one of Auckland's leafiest inner-city streets had an illegal balcony, a broken downstairs window and a rickety bath which looked in danger of falling through the top floor.

Mount Maunganui is starting a new growth spurt and several hundred apartments worth a total of $130 million are being built over the next 12 months.

In another sign that the recent mortgage interest rate price war is dead, most of the big banks have nudged up fixed interest rates again, some to two-year highs.

Q. A recent item in your column discussed the benefits of picking a few stocks versus a basket of shares. Your reader advocated picking, while you advocated the basket. I think you're both wrong or both right, depending on how you look at it.

I tried the pure basket approach (pun intended, as you'll see) by going to the financial adviser industry to invest my redundancy at the