A shortage of listings is holding back property market growth in Rotorua, real estate agency Bayleys says.

Just under 20% of properties on the market have been listed for sale for more than a year.

A series of public meetings are to be held across the country as part of consultation on the Government’s earthquake-prone building policy.

A drop in the number of building consents issued in November compared to the previous month was entirely due to a decline in apartments.

At this time of the year plenty of time is spent pondering what lies ahead for the real estate market.

Auckland house prices increased by 7.7% in 2012, compared to 2011, real estate agency Barfoot and Thompson says.

There has been no drop-off in buyer inquiries over the holiday period, real estate agents around the country report.

KiwiSaver has already helped 10,000 first-home buyers into $3 billion worth of property, data from the Financial Services Council shows.

Fewer houses are available for sale than at any time since records began, says realestate.co.nz

Three-bedroom houses are most popular with buyers and renters but four-bedroom homes are the most commonly built because they return the most profit to developers, says research from Colliers.

First-home buyers should not be tempted by top-of-the-range homes and instead should buy the cheapest properties their egos will allow, says New Zealand Property Investors Federation president Andrew King.

Large homes in the central suburbs of Auckland are commanding high rental prices, the latest Crockers data shows.

People thinking about starting or expanding their property investment portfolio in 2013 should think about cashflow, says the president of the New Zealand Property Investors Federation.

The number of mortgagee sales continues to fall, Terralink data released yesterday reveals.

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Net migration as positive for the third month in a row in November, and Westpac says an upward trend appears to be establishing.