Many a harassed city-dweller dreams of escaping the rat race to a better, more relaxed life in a beachside town. Some, like businessman Gary Alway do more than dream. Alway cashed up his villa in the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert and headed to Waihi Beach, just north of Tauranga. He'd been in Auckland 20 years, and he'd had enough.

Former homeowners will find the sale of their home is just the main course. Bankruptcy will be for dessert, followed by the "cheese and biscuits" of seeing their KiwiSaver drained. Even if bankruptcy doesn't happen, the threat of it will mean people will willingly agree to the next best thing- a Summary Instalment Order.

The Reserve Bank is deferring the start of the proposed changes to investor loan-to-value restrictions (LVRs) nationwide from 1 September to 1 October 2016, based on feedback from the banking industry from its recent consultation on the proposals. Deputy Governor, Grant Spencer, said: “Banks have indicated through their submissions that more time is required to enable them to meet the new restrictions that apply to investor loans nationwide, given the pipeline of loan pre-approvals made prior to our announcement in July.

The Reserve Bank has cut the official cash rate (OCR) to a new all time low of 2.0 per cent, but borrowers are set to see little saving. Governor Graeme Wheeler lowered the benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points, saying the New Zealand dollar needed to come down.

When the bank lifted the benchmark rate the price of mortgages went up, when it cut, they went down. It has been the same with the interest on deposits. In theory, a cut in the official cash rate (OCR) means it is cheaper for the banks to borrow money, and this would usually be followed practically immediately in lower floating mortgage rates, and a cut in interest paid to depositors.

Foreigners bought three per cent of all New Zealand properties sold between April and June this year, new data from Land Information NZ shows. While the national figure is similar to the previous quarter, there has been a one per cent increase in sales in Auckland to foreign tax residents.

New Zealand residential building consents reached their highest annual total in more than a decade, driven by activity in Auckland and surrounding regions. Seasonally adjusted consents increased 16 per cent to 29,097 in the year through June, the highest total for a June year since 2004 and the highest annual total since the April 2005 year, Statistics New Zealand said. For the month of June, new home consents rose 16 per cent from May and 35 per cent from June last year, the agency said.

Auckland's houses will grow upwards but the city's boundaries aren't coming down, according to the proposal for the city's long-term planning rulebook. Auckland Council on Wednesday revealed the recommendations it's been given about the layout of the city's Unitary Plan, which will dictate what can be built and where for at least a decade - and more density and an bigger, but still present, city limit have come out as key themes.

New Zealand house prices will rise another 17 per cent before peaking late next year as accelerating building scrambles to right the imbalance between a lack of houses and growing demand, says economic consultancy Infometrics. The Wellington-based firm sees 2017 as a peak for the market. It forecasts a fall-off in demand as the rapid inflow of new migrants starts to ease, while new building eats into the supply shortage.

Property investors in New Zealand borrowed far more than first home buyers last month and took out a much greater number of mortgages, just-released figures show. The NZ Reserve Bank's June lending data shows investors borrowed $NZ2.56 billion ($A2.40 billion) while first home buyers borrowed less than a third of that, $NZ738 million.