Manawatu house prices continue to hit record highs, frustrating ambitious first home buyers. Manawatu/Whanganui house prices are the highest they've been since Real Estate Institute of New Zealand records began 20 years ago. And there's little sign the climb will stop soon, with the region seeing some of the highest increases in the country.

Ratings agency Fitch has warned that New Zealand and several other "hot" Asia-Pacific countries are in for a sharp slowdown in house price growth this year. The housing market was likely to "decelerate sharply" in several Asia-Pacific (Apac) markets over 2017, as sheer affordability, increased housing supply and tighter lending and regulatory standards kicked in, the agency said.

Marlborough house prices continue to set record highs and the upward trend seems to show no sign of slowing down, a real estate agent says. This is good news for existing property owners, but the red hot market is making it harder for first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder.

Hamilton's median house price sale sat below half a million dollars in January - the first time that has happened since August. But, Lugton's managing director Simon Lugton said in a statement that does not mean prices are dropping, it is just lower cost properties are traditionally bought in January.

If there is one thing that most tenants can agree on, it is that rent is a pretty significant expense each week. But between Trade Me, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and other real estate commentators such as Barfoot & Thompson, you can get quite a mixed view of what the rental market is doing.

Restoring the ability of young New Zealanders to buy a home is being tipped as a defining issue of the upcoming general election. Nowhere is New Zealand's increasing inequality as manifest as in house prices which have reached ten times the median household income in Auckland, according to the latest Demographia survey.

Wellington has become the country's biggest urban market for first-home buyers, as investors struggle to meet tighter mortgage criteria. Data prepared for Westpac by property data firm CoreLogic shows first-home buyers made up almost 29 per cent of all sales in the Wellington market last year.

It pays to have a bit of luck as finance minister, even when you're on top of your game. So even when Steven Joyce is cleaning up yours truly in a game of pool for our Summer "hidden talents" series, and the black fails to drop, it doubles back and sinks at the other end of the table.

Appearing at the finance and expenditure committee on Wednesday Joyce said the house price market was "pretty fully priced", especially in Auckland.

Rents have risen nationally by 5.5 per cent, an eight-year high, and gathering pace even more strongly in provincial areas. Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan has run his ruler over tenancy bond figures during the December quarter compared to a year ago.