ASB Bank and ANZ Bank New Zealand have followed Westpac Banking Corp's lead in clamping down on lending to property investors by requiring at least a 40 per cent deposit ahead of Reserve Bank restrictions. Westpac made the same move on Wednesday after the central bank said earlier this week it intends having the new lending restrictions in force by September 1 and asked lenders to comply with the spirit of the new regulations immediately.

The New Zealand Reserve Bank's new restrictions on highly-leveraged home loans are likely to be a boon to non-bank lenders, which make up a fraction of all mortgages. The central bank expects a drop of up to 15 per cent in the volume of home sales and reduce house price inflation by up to 5 per cent when it introduces restrictions on banks' high loan-to-value ratio mortgages from September.

Westpac Banking Corp in New Zealand has announced it will not take any new loan applications from property investors who do not have a 40 per cent deposit from 4.30pm on Wednesday, some six weeks earlier than required by the NZ Reserve Bank. The central bank on Tuesday said it intends have the new lending restrictions in force by September 1 and asked lenders to comply with the spirit of the new regulations immediately.

The central bank wants to cap bank lending to property investors with a deposit of less than 40 per cent at 5 per cent, according to a consultation paper released on Tuesday. It also wants to restore the 10 per cent limit for owner-occupiers wanting to take out a mortgage with a deposit of less than 20 per cent.

A slower-than-expected pace of inflation has added to the case for an interest rate cut next month as a strong New Zealand dollar continues to keep a lid on imported prices. The consumers price index rose 0.4 per cent in the June quarter from a year earlier, missing the Reserve Bank's estimate of 0.6 per cent and tracking below the bank's target band for annual inflation of one-to-three per cent for the seventh straight quarter.

Goodman Property Trust will sell three of its Auckland offices for $NZ206 million ($A196.98 million) to reduce debt. New Zealand's second-biggest listed property investor will sell its two Millennium office estates on Great South Road in Greenlane and the adjoining Yellow HQ building to local investor Oyster Management.

Two New Zealand companies who illegally repossessed homes while calling in debts have been found guilty of more than 100 charges between them. The NZ Commerce Commission brought charges against Budget Loans Limited and Evolution Finance Limited after 21 borrowers were misled about their consumer rights.

New Zealand's national house prices rose again in June, as five regions hit record highs. The median national sale price jumped 11 per cent to $NZ500,000 ($A471,342) in June from a year earlier, while the number of properties sold advanced 6 per cent to 7,864, according to the Real Estate Institute. Compared with May, the median price slipped 1.2 per cent while the volume dropped 13 per cent, in line with seasonal trends heading into winter, the Institute said.

Property prices across New Zealand have hit a record high, but in good news for buyers the price increases are slowing down. The average asking price for a home reached a high of $NZ590,850 ($A565,460) in June, more than $NZ46,000 than the same time last year, according to the Trade Me Property Price Index.

New Zealand's opposition Labour party says it will change Housing NZ from a state-owned corporation to a public service entity and use the dividends it pays government to build new state houses. Labour leader Andrew Little said the announcement on Saturday in Wellington was the second of three on housing policy by the party.