Property prices across New Zealand have hit a record high, but in good news for buyers the price increases are slowing down. The average asking price for a home reached a high of $NZ590,850 ($A565,460) in June, more than $NZ46,000 than the same time last year, according to the Trade Me Property Price Index.

New Zealand's opposition Labour party says it will change Housing NZ from a state-owned corporation to a public service entity and use the dividends it pays government to build new state houses. Labour leader Andrew Little said the announcement on Saturday in Wellington was the second of three on housing policy by the party.

The New Zealand Reserve Bank has signalled it could introduce further restrictions on investor borrowing in the housing market by the end of the year. Deputy governor Grant Spencer says the bank is concerned about financial stability and is closely considering measures to contain what it sees as a growing risk caused by high house prices and increased borrowing.

After more than four months on the market, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's former mansion in New Zealand has finally sold. The lavish 12-bedroom, English-style mansion in Coatesville is infamous as the site of an early-morning police raid on Dotcom in 2012.

Households on a plan that passes on wholesale rates could have paid an extra $20 for their power that night. The Electricity Authority said it had investigated and decided that the incident was not an "undesirable trading situation" - a situation that threatens confidence in the wholesale market.

Online investment services provider Real Estate Investar Group has bought The Property Factory for NZ$550,000 (A$527,000).

Inland Revenue is under pressure from Labour and a top academic to lift its veil of secrecy on big company tax matters. Labour revenue spokesman Stuart Nash said experts believed New Zealand was missing out on $1 billion to $7b of tax.

Law changes requiring landlords to place smoke alarms in all rental properties and insulate them within three years are the most significant tenancy changes in decades, Housing Minister Nick Smith says. However, Labour says a failure to place heating standards into the rules means they are not enough to help families living in cold homes.

“The most expensive mistake a borrower could make is sticking with the same lender over a 25 to 30 year period.” According to Mozo research those with a $500,000 mortgage could save up to $70,000 over a 25 year period just by switching from the average rate home loan to one of the lowest rates currently available.

An economist is bewildered Auckland's million-dollar Tamaki Dr waterfront strip does not have "line to line skyscrapers" like the Gold Coast. Former Reserve Bank chairman Arthur Grimes said during a panel on the future of Auckland housing that he grew up in Kohimarama and he could "not understand why that whole area from Orakei to St Heliers is not like the Gold Coast".