The economy is slowing, but the second half of the year should be better, with robust home building and spending in shops looking set to continue a good run, latest figures show.

The housing boom is surpassing heights reached in the golden days of the 1990s and mid-1980s.

Q. I own a unit in a high-rise development in Auckland and am concerned about the spiralling management costs I am required to pay through my body corporate levy.

Inland Revenue is considering a change that could find people with their homes in family trusts hit by tax rates of 45% for the benefit they receive, tax experts warned yesterday.

August figures show no let up in the frothy housing market with the national median house price notching up yet another record while volumes were also very strong.

Residential tenants who "do a runner" leaving behind unpaid rent be warned – it just became easier to track you down.

The housing market is about to heat up even more as hundreds of new buyers qualify for Kiwibank's new mortgage assistance scheme.

The Reserve Bank should cut interest rates and do more to talk down the New Zealand dollar to a competitive level of less than US55 cents, according to Berl economist Ganesh Nana.

The property boom continued in August with national residential house prices up 16.2 over the last year, but price growth appears to be easing in Christchurch.

Economic growth is forecast to fall short of expectations set earlier this month by the Reserve Bank, economists say.

...Urbus Chief Executive Murray Barclay said in a statement to the New Zealand Exchange that the sales are "in line with the company's strategy of reducing its profile" to the Wellington office market.