It was ominously headed the Additional Flatmates Agreement – and as soon as Jon Lake saw it, he knew he was looking for a new home.

With so many companies offering financial advice online Rob Stock clicks on to the best of the free ones.

Q: I rent my home and keep savings in the bank (a potential house deposit, because isn't buying a house what we're all supposed to do?) and often hear the "rent is dead money" comment from friends and colleagues who have already bought a home and are paying off a mortgage.

But surely the hundreds of thousands of dollars people pay in interest over the term of their mortgage is

A Sydney private equity firm is expected to buy Guardian Healthcare Group - a rest home operator that had been touted as a likely sharemarket listing.

More than half of Housing New Zealand's 60,000 rental properties are being damaged by tenants each year.

Imagine if each individual mortgage broker could decide for themselves how much upfront commission and how much trail commission they could receive on every individual deal.

The proposed merger of listed trust ING and listed property company Urbus would create the second-biggest listed property entity by market capitalisation with assets of $717 million, immediately behind the largest player, Kiwi Income Property Trust.

Twenty years ago they paid $200,000 for their Mount Maunganui holiday home - and yesterday they paid it an emotional farewell as it went under the hammer for a cool $4 million.

Shares in retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare have continued their good run as investors see further upside in this long-term growth sector.

The cost of building a new house leapt to an average $1021.45/m² in August, as the number of consents slipped.

The eastern suburbs housing market is levelling off.

The number of new dwelling consents issued fell in August, pointing to a cooling in the construction industry.

The risk the sharemarket will go into a downturn is now greater than the risk it will go higher, according to sharebroker Goldman Sachs JB Were.

Building consents have dropped for the second month in a row and have been on the slide since January, fuelling economists' belief that New Zealand is heading for a cooler economy.

Inner city living continues to boom in Auckland, with a raft of apartment blocks due to come on stream. But potential buyers should beware of the pitfalls.

The world - the Western world, at least - is ageing. It's a demographic shift of huge consequence.