Residential property values continued to decline across the country in December, with values 0.9% below the same time last year, according to the latest QV Residential Property Market update.

[UPDATED] Housing New Zealand has responded to complaints about its Home Leasing Scheme from Auckland landlord Ian Crayton, who claimed the scheme had "screwed" landlords.

Inaccurate rating valuations have left some Hutt City commercial property owners facing excessive rates payments, claims Bayleys Valuations Chris Orchard.

Although there has been some recovery in the housing market, though sales remain low and a mood of cautiousness remains, according to the latest ANZ Property Focus.

Government changes to tax legislation replacing the Loss Attributing Qualifying Company (LAQC) regime amounts to “a complete abuse of process and amazing arrogance and sloppiness,” claimed Labour Revenue spokesman Stuart Nash.

The way people behave when houses become less and less affordable can have a dramatic impact on how many houses are needed to satisfy demand, Strategic Risk Analysis managing director Rodney Dickens says.

Mortgagee sales have decreased in the last quarter, and the focus has moved from property investors to ordinary homeowners, according to Terralink International figures.

Housing market activity continues to slow, house prices may fall further in the near term and floating rate mortgage debt has hit a near decade high, according to the latest Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Statement.

Across the country there was a mixed picture in both total sales and median price movement.

Confidence about the economy in a year's time has slipped slightly and the residential real estate and commercial property sectors remain ‘moribund', according to the latest BNZ Confidence Survey.

A late spring surge in the residential property market has lifted the level of sales back above 5,000 and the national median price up to $360,000, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) November report.

It seems we all like a good local tussle. This month in NZ Property Investor magazine we have pitted the North Island v the South Island to see which one stacks up with the best investment properties.

The Reserve Bank left the OCR rate unchanged at 3% and forecast limited rises over the next two years, citing concerns the low rate was failing to provide a boost to the economy with below average corporate investment intentions and a weak housing market.

Proposed new rules confirmed today as part of the wider tax shake-up will eliminate landlords’ and businesses’ ability to claim depreciation on buildings and tighten the rules for LAQCs.

New Zealand property values are beginning to stabilise, though sales volumes remain relatively low, according to the latest QV residential property indices for November.

Confidence in the housing market continued to fall over the three months to October, with tax changes regarding investment property adding to the cautiousness towards housing as an investment option, according to the latest ASB Housing Confidence Survey.