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".

Grants of up to $NZ5000 are now available to help those struggling to find a home in Auckland to move out of the city. The grant, announced by the New Zealand government a day before last month's budget was handed down, is now available to those living in social housing, on the social housing waiting list or those eligible for social housing and won't have to be paid back.

Three Iranian migrants and a family friend have been found guilty of mortgage fraud after they scammed seven New Zealand banks in a $NZ9.2 million scheme involving 11 Auckland properties between July 2007 and December 2010.

New Zealand's economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the first quarter of 2016 as construction expanded at the quickest rate in two years. The kiwi dollar rose after the data was released.

New Zealand's national median house price rose to a record high in May, passing $NZ500,000 ($A475,340) for the first time. Five regions hit all-time highs as the median national sale price jumped 10 per cent to $NZ506,000 in May from a year earlier, while the number of properties sold increased 14 per cent to 9075, according to the Real Estate Institute.

Two of New Zealand's biggest banks have imposed new restrictions on overseas property buyers.

SCA Property Group (SCP) has entered into a conditional sale contract with Stride Property Group for the sale of SCPs New Zealand portfolio to a newly established Stride-managed entity, Investore Property.

Property investors appear set to face new lending restrictions as the Reserve Bank moves to prevent them taking an increasing share of the market. On Thursday the Reserve Bank left the official cash rate on hold at 2.25 per cent, despite concerns about the ongoing strength of the kiwi dollar.