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31 Oct 2008: The number of new houses being built is falling rapidly, in line with a worsening economy. read more >>

Try before you buy, rent-to-buy plans

29 Oct 2008: Try before you buy rent-to-buy plans can ease the way to ownership, says Diana Clement. read more >>

Bargains can lure buyers into leaky home morass

29 Oct 2008: House and apartment buyers are unwittingly stumbling into the leaky building disaster, tempted by cheap properties with serious hidden defects. read more >>

Owning a home expected to get easier

28 Oct 2008: The number of people owning their own homes is expected to rise as interest rates fall and borrowers enjoy savings of about $7000 a year on mortgages. read more >>

Where house hunters go browsing

28 Oct 2008: Auckland Central is the area most in demand for house hunters using the internet. read more >>

Beachfront land reaches 'record price'

24 Oct 2008: A waterfront headland in the Bay of Islands with two houses has sold after being marketed at $10.39 million. read more >>

Bollard axes rates - 1pc cut

23 Oct 2008: The Reserve Bank has slashed official interest rates an unprecedented 1 percentage point to 6.5 points, opening the way for cuts to mortgage rates but also highlighting the grim outlook facing the global economy. read more >>

The real cost of housing

22 Oct 2008: With all the discussion of rising petrol prices, interest rates and cost of groceries, it's time to figure out the real cost of living in your neighbourhood. Modern urban design urges homeowners to consider not just the price of their home, but also the cost of living in that area. read more >>

House sales fail to pick up despite cheap prices

22 Oct 2008: Harcourts, the country's largest real estate agency, said last month's house sales were extremely disappointing and the lack of deals confounds logic. read more >>

$14,000 grant for first-home buyers lures Kiwis across Ditch

21 Oct 2008: Kiwis have yet another reason to move across the Tasman following last week's announcement by the Australian Government of a A$14,000 ($15,925) grant for first-home buyers. read more >>

Home affordability up as rates fall, house values flatten

16 Oct 2008: Falling interest rates and flat house prices pushed home affordability to a two-year high in September, a new survey shows. read more >>

Rate falls and flat prices nudge house market toward buyers

15 Oct 2008: Falling interest rates and flat house prices pushed home affordability to a two-year high in September, a survey shows. read more >>

Mortgage rates tipped to stay high

12 Oct 2008: The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is tipped to cut the official cash rate this month, but mortgage holders and first home buyers are warned not to expect lower interest rates yet. read more >>

Lawyers? Who needs them!

10 Oct 2008: Well, you do. You might try to sell a house without a real estate agent. But you should never try buying one without a lawyer. With intimate knowledge of all the traps you can fall into, these professionals are more than just the middlemen. read more >>

House prices 'to keep falling until March'

7 Oct 2008: House prices are expected to hit bottom in March, and could fall to as much as 25 per cent down on boom levels, according to Treasury's pre-election report. read more >>

How the financial crisis is hitting mortgages

4 Oct 2008: The credit crisis that started half a world away is hitting renovators and first-home buyers. A combination of falling house prices, rising living costs and higher prices for overseas money is forcing banks to tighten their lending policies. read more >>

ASB tightens credit screws as global crunch continues

3 Oct 2008: The impact of the credit crunch is pushing further into the New Zealand banking scene, with ASB bank dropping its 'low- doc' and 80 per cent plus loans in new credit rationing move. Sold through ASB's broker lending division Sovereign Home Loans, the move is a yet another sign that the big Australian banks are tightening credit criteria to deal with sharply higher overseas funding costs and frozen international credit markets. read more >>

Taming the monster

3 Oct 2008: You've taken the plunge and bought yourself a place to truly call home. Top stuff. Now all you have to do is pay off that loan. Here's how to make your life that much easier. read more >>

Villa lovers anxious over new rules

2 Oct 2008: Devonport Heritage says the community is anxious about whether new planning rules can stop moves to turn old villas into mansions. read more >>

How to avoid buying leaky homes

2 Oct 2008: As former editor of RE, the Real Estate Institute of NZ (REINZ) magazine, Vicki Holder is a specialist property/homes writer/editor providing numerous articles, advertisements and newsletters to private real estate clients, NZ magazines, newspapers and real estate websites. She is also the former editor of the NZ Herald?s Weekend Real Estate tabloid and was editor NZ Home & Entertaining magazine. read more >>