In the last week or two there has been a wall of negative noise about the New Zealand residential property market. The market has certainly paused and there are some signs there could be the start of a house price slump. It would depend on the size of any fall, but there is a significant threat to the economy posed by a house price slump. A sizeable fall would hit consumer confidence, hurt home-owners and investors who are highly geared and possibly affect bank lending.

The Retirement Commissioner has released recommendations to beef up KiwiSaver, and has used Barbie, Ken and superhero doll stop-motion video clips to do it. The changes include increasing the minimum employee and employer contributions from three per cent to four per cent, and allowing people to save six per cent or ten per cent of their salary, if they choose.

The future shape of Wellington's Shelly Bay revamp is becoming clearer, with new plans hinting at more than 350 homes, a boutique hotel, a brewery, a rest home and a ferry service. But Wellingtonians, who own a large chunk of Shelly Bay, will not get a say on whether resource consent for the $500 million development on the Miramar Peninsula site should get the final tick.

Prime Minister John Key has revealed a $1 billion infrastructure spend-up to speed up the construction of tens of thousands of new homes. Councils in Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown, Tauranga and Hamilton will be able to use the pool of loans for roads and water infrastructure in new housing areas.

Three-hundred new homes will be built on Auckland's Point England Reserve to help address the city's housing crisis. Housing Minister Nick Smith on Tuesday said 12 hectares would be developed into affordable and social housing properties in partnership with the Tamaki Redevelopment Company.

There are few things scarier than a "housing bubble". But what actually is it? And how would we know if we were in one? Susan Edmunds reports as part of Stuff's 'Blowing Bubbles' series.

Queenstown properties have cracked the million dollar mark for average values, putting them on par with Auckland. But the latest QV property values for November show that the heat is starting to come out of the flourishing Wellington property market and other markets ahead of Christmas.

Aiesha Cunningham has been looking for a rental property for more than a year, without any luck. The mother-of-two is a full-time student and wants to find a home near her kids' school in Manurewa.

Auckland's long run of relatively stagnant rent prices may be coming to an end. Trade Me Property has released its latest rental market data, which offers a snapshot of the prices being asked by landlords around the country.

Major insurers have agreed to a deal to lift the "freeze" on house insurance policies being issued. Immediately after the first earthquake centred on Kaikoura insurers stopped issuing new policies raising fears house sales across the South Island and lower North Island would be disrupted.