The New Zealand dollar has taken a further hit after China's central bank devalued the yuan for the second time in two days. New Zealand and Australian shares fell and world oil prices were down.

An Auckland woman has lost her house over an $11,000 unpaid rates bill. Charlotte Marsh's three-bedroom Manurewa home was sold at a High Court-ordered auction on Wednesday after she refused to pay rates to Auckland Council for five years.

Auckland's blistering house prices could soon be exported to the cities of Hamilton, Tauranga and Whangerei, mortgage brokers fear. This week, BNZ will be the last of the big Aussie banks to introduce tough lending rules for investors which are designed to curb house price frenzy.

Warring spouses are deliberately delaying their divorce settlements in order to cash in on soaring house prices. The surging property market, which rose by 10 per cent nationwide in the past 12 months, is causing valuations to go out of date before the ink is dry on divorce papers.

New Zealand residential property prices have risen at the fastest pace in eight years, driven by the overheated Auckland housing market. They're now about 27 per cent above the previous market peak in late 2007, according to state-owned agency Quotable Value. National property values accelerated 10.1 per cent in the 12 months through July to an average $NZ527,760. ($A476,360.68)

Claims foreign buyers are increasingly snapping up Auckland houses have been further debunked, with data indicating only a fraction of visitors to a popular real estate website are Asian. Figures released by website realestate.co.nz reveal about five per cent of all online traffic viewing Auckland property between January and April were primary speakers of an East Asian language.

House building is still slowing in Canterbury, where more than new 23,500 homes have been consented since the start of the earthquakes. Figures from Statistics New Zealand show councils in the region approved 544 homes in June, 13 per cent fewer than a year ago. The average value of the consents was $334,500.

The number of new homes consented in June fell more than 4 per cent on the previous month, according to Statistics NZ figures. The fall in June followed a flat result in May, though figures have been weaker mainly because of the ups and downs in the apartments sector, economists said. But consents for individual homes also dipped slightly in June.

House prices are high in many urban centres, but the costs of owning homes has gone through the roof too. Figures from Statistics New Zealand show general inflation was 19.8 per cent since Mid-2006, but the costs of ownership have risen far faster, with maintenance costs alone having gone up by nearly 35 per cent.

They both work, they already own an investment property and they've got help from family, but they are still struggling to get into their first home in Hamilton's spiralling market. With more interest rate cuts set to follow this week's round, experts say it's only going to get harder for people like Richard and Rohani Alexander to get into the property whirlwind being fanned by Auckland buyers and cheap borrowing.