Two New Zealand opposition parties, Labour and NZ First, are demanding a register of foreign property buyers as the row over offshore Chinese investors rages on. Labour leader Andrew Little says New Zealanders need to know exactly how many houses are being snapped up by foreign speculators.

A staff member at Auckland's largest real estate company has been fired for leaking sales data which ended up in the hands of the Labour Party. The sacking has added fuel to the political row that's raging around the impact offshore Chinese investors are having on Auckland's overheated housing market.

Unnecessary red tape around safety standards is slapping extra costs on homeowners, exacerbating the housing affordability problem, says The New Zealand Institute. In a report released on Thursday, the market-orientated think tank found increased workplace safety requirements were adding thousands of dollars to the cost of building new homes and maintaining existing ones.

Property investors are lobbying the Government to halve the time period of a new capital gains tax for properties bought and sold within two years. The Finance and Expenditure Committee met in Auckland on Wednesday to discuss the first stage of a three-pronged legislative move to cool the housing market.

New Zealand's Labour leader Andrew Little is defending the release of controversial data appearing to show many offshore Chinese are buying Auckland houses. Labour has come under fire after housing spokesman Phil Twyford released figures from an unnamed real estate firm over the weekend showing 40 per cent of houses sold in Auckland between February and April went to people with Chinese surnames.

New Zealand law changes that will force landlords to insulate their houses and install smoke alarms equate to "putting lipstick on the pig", new home builder Jennian Homes says. NZ Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith announced the new rules on Thursday, saying they would ensure 180,000 homes were warmer, drier and safer. From July 1 next year, all social housing subsidised by the government will be retrofitted with ceiling and underfloor insulation, and have smoke alarms.

China's stock market recovered sharply in volatile trading on Thursday after the government announced further measures to restore investor confidence, including forbidding major shareholders from selling. Shanghai's benchmark share index rose 5.8 percent, reversing direction after sliding 3.8 percent earlier in the day. But it has still lost around a quarter of its value since a peak in mid-June.

A typical house in Auckland now costs 10 times the median household income. That's Labour's latest housing horror story - the party says the internationally accepted affordability benchmark is three times median household income making a mortgage longer to pay off.

Floating mortgage rates should fall sharply over the next four months with bank economists expecting the Reserve Bank to slash the official interest rate back to 2.5 per cent. ASB is the latest bank to say it expects the central bank to cut the official cash rate (OCR) further than it previously expected. It currently stands at 3.25 per cent.

Investment banks, law firms and international infrastructure investors are showing an interest in buying state houses. On Wednesday night the Treasury released a list of those who had attended its latest roadshow on state house transfers. While the Government said it welcomed the interest, Labour said it showed the private sector was seeking to profit at the expense of taxpayers.