A Taranaki couple living on leasehold land are facing financial ruin and risk losing their home after their land lease increased by 1500 per cent.

Two investors who helped kickstart a stalled Marlborough Sounds development are selling one of the sections for Bitcoin.

Tourism is said to be the main reason that the average house value in the Tekapo district is now over $850,000.

A retail hub expected to breathe new life into a Blenheim suburb looks almost complete, but its tenants are still anyone's guess.

Auckland's property market is showing signs of life, with a quarter more properties on the market than this time last year.

A new University of Auckland building is helping to keep non-residential building consents from falling but next year's activity is expected to be slower, with an oversupply of office space possible.

A Wellington office tower, designed by the late Sir Ian Athfield and named best commercial building 30 years ago, is up for sale.

Landlords are warning of rent rises on the horizon, after the government passed a law requiring rentals to be warm, dry and well ventilated.

In fact, in the latest house-price indicator from The Economist, New Zealand house prices are second highest (behind Canada).

The auction was to "test the market", but it was more for people "being nosy".