Once again, economists are unanimous in their expectation that the Reserve Bank will hike interest rates for a fourth time this year when it reviews the Official Cash Rate (OCR) on Thursday.

Q. I own my own business and have assets worth around $5 million, which include commercial investment properties. I have been divorced for some time and my children spend around three nights each week with me. My de facto partner and her young daughter moved into my home with me about 18 months ago. It is not owned by a trust and I have heard that a trust will protect it if my relationship

Q. Unlike a lot of people we know in a similar position, my wife and I have not invested in real estate, apart from the house we live in.

Our house in Auckland is now worth about $350,000, and our equity in it is about $200,000.

If we want to make our money (our equity) work hard for us, and we don't choose to invest in real estate, what else could we invest in? <

The country's largest fund manager predicts that the "exceptional" returns enjoyed during the past year are about to fall back to more normal levels.

Mount Maunganui's first large industrial subdivision to be created in the past five years is about to go on the market, subject to resource consent approval.

Negotiations have begun between an iwi authority and a listed property trust to highlight the history of the $300 million Sylvia Park development site in Mt Wellington.

Let's talk about options. Fisher & Paykel Appliances plans to issue 6.3 million of them to its employees this year if shareholders pass a resolution on August 16.

by David Whitburn

Michael Cullen Speech to FPIA Success Forum

Southern house prices rebounded from a drop in May to rise strongly last month, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures show.

SYDNEY: Australian home prices have peaked for this cycle but are unlikely to crash as unemployment and interest rates should both remain historically low, preventing forced sales, according to Macquarie Bank Ltd.

A pilot project aimed at helping low to modest income earners buy their own homes has approved fewer applications than expected.

Figures released by investment research company FundSource reveal that equity fund investors have continued their run of positive returns in the first half of 2004.

Samoan and Tongan language versions of the popular tenant guide What to do when you’re renting' were launched by Acting Housing Minister Rick Barker today.

Emotion, not logic, appears to rule the one in 10 people with money in managed funds.

Investors pulled $228 million out of retail managed funds in the first half of the year - even though those funds were making money.