Wellington's property market has become so hot that desperate buyers are dispensing with vital checks such as builders' reports, valuations and legal advice.

Auckland property investors, and others from around the globe, are buying up Wellington rentals, driving up prices in an already sizzling residential housing market.

Wellington's property boom continues to sizzle, with median house prices surging to a record high of $480,000 as competition for dwindling housing stock gets fierce.

Weakly positive house prices in October are being put down to uncertainty over the forming of the new Government.

Have a look at the things the new Government will put on the table: the removal of the ability to offset losses against other income, changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, extension of the bright line rule to five years, the passage of the Healthy Homes Bill and – in time maybe – a capital gains tax.

I didn't want to tell anyone about a house we loved, in case that jinxed it. I couldn't wear the clothes I wore to a failed auction to the next one and I started looking up which numbers the Chinese considered lucky, after reading in the newspaper unlucky street numbers would steer Chinese buyers away from some houses, and thus reduce the competition.

A fresh set of Reserve Bank forecasts will give the first new look at the spending landscape facing the new Government, which may well be softening.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says a ban on foreigners buying existing homes will begin in early 2018, but won't apply to Australians seeking to buy homes across the ditch.

Wellington's hottest beachfront property is up for grabs.

Buyers looking for a house now have about half the selection to choose from than they did 10 years ago.