Auckland District Court convicted and fined Mr A. K. Milne, owner of a boarding house at 71 Sussex Street, $3000 plus court costs on Friday (6 December), for failing to supply a current Building Warrant of Fitness.

The Government has created its own state housing crisis, highlighted by calls from housing advocates to build more houses, ACT New Zealand Social Welfare Spokesman Dr Muriel Newman said today.

Hong Kong's real estate sector has been in the doldrums since the Asian financial crisis in 1997/98. Residential property prices are now 65 percent from their 1997 peaks, shattering consumer confidence and fuelling a deflationary trend...

An independent economic research agency predicts the property boom is about to come off the boil.

Rising rents and a stable student population would continue Invercargill's rental housing shortage well into the New Year, observers said.

The final section of the Hunn report into leaky buildings has been released today. It finds the Building Act to be fundamentally sound but identifies aspects which need improvement to prevent the problem from happening again.

Lord of the Rings and not leaky buildings appears to have had an impact on Wellington residential property valuations with the average value of a Seatoun home up nearly 25 per cent on last year.

Q: ...It has prompted me to comment that I do not agree that the commonly held belief of paying off your mortgage and having no debt is the way to financial freedom...

GOLD COAST - New Zealanders have continued to pump money into Gold Coast residential property, which is still powering ahead despite signs that the steam is starting to go out of other major Australian markets.

...The Bank of New Zealand also reported this week that Auckland house prices are 11.9 per cent higher than a year ago, taking the cost of the average home from $260,000 to $290,000.

The median house price rose from $185,000 in September to $188,000 in October which compares with $179,000 in October last year. That's a 5% annual rise. That's still below the record median price of $189,000 achieved in April this year

For those of you who own, or are looking to buy a holiday home, this information will prove invaluable.

Homeowners can look forward to stable mortgage rates through to the end of next year, according to Reserve Bank forecasts.

Investors in nine Waltus property syndicates voted overwhelmingly in favour of being taken over by Urbus despite some vigorous opposition at a marathon round of meetings yesterday.

Auckland’s latest Capital Valuations for residential properties were completed on September 1. However, don't think you can use these valuations to gauge a market price for a property.