By the looks of much rhetoric being espoused in the press lately it appears that we have returned to the old days of “property bashing” again.

It's hardly surprising to hear a real estate agent hype property. But a Wellington agent should have checked his facts before telling a national magazine recently, "Quite frankly, other investment alternatives aren't looking very healthy. People are looking at the yields, and property wins every time."

The housing market has become riskier, but low interest rates are keeping homes affordable and the boom shows little sign yet of running out of steam, ASB Bank concludes from its latest quarterly housing survey.

Research into the longer-term factors driving house prices contains good and bad news for Auckland.

The cost of getting a house valued is about to rise because of increasing insurance costs for valuers, says a real estate leader.

In what is perhaps yet another sign of just how buoyant the housing market, a new form of financing deposits has emerged, the deposit bond or guarantee.

New consumer finance and credit contracts laws provide overdue protection for borrowers – especially from loan sharks, according to the Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.

Some landlords are taking advantage of the strong rental property market in Nelson by making potential tenants bid against each other, people involved in the market say.

Sales in the Auckland housing market are slowing because there aren't enough properties so Auckland prices look set to go higher

One of Auckland's largest apartment managers is backing the call for a change to the laws governing apartment titles.

Rising house prices are not squeezing people out of the mortgage market and it is getting easier to borrow money, says a Massey University study.

Foreigners have bought New Zealand commercial property worth more than $800 million in the past 18 months, says a top agent.

Buying a home became more affordable in some parts of New Zealand during the September quarter, especially Wellington, because floating mortgage rates fell.

Home affordability has fallen in the Nelson-Marlborough region for nearly two years - a trend that has not been seen anywhere else in New Zealand.

The Government's plan to help out low-income first-home buyers with loans from state-owned Kiwibank is anti-competitive, according to mortgage brokers.

Skyrocketing prices for former state houses are putting even basic accommodation beyond first home buyers' reach.