Nearly 12,000 first or second-home buyers in Canterbury will have access to National's KiwiSaver HomeStart grant over the next five years, Housing Minister Nick Smith says. Smith and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett were in Christchurch this week, partly to detail the Canterbury component of the new housing policy for KiwiSavers.

More than 200 first home buyers in Marlborough have bought their house using the Government's HomeStart scheme. Kaikoura MP Stuart Smith said the biggest challenge for young people getting into home ownership was pulling together funds for a deposit.

The New Zealand government should follow Australia's lead and stop foreign investors buying existing houses, the Labour party says. NZ Labour housing spokesman Phil Twyford says Australia requires foreign property investors to build new houses.

Plunging inflation expectations could lead to interest rates being cut to a record low within a month. On Tuesday the Reserve Bank released its quarterly survey of expectations, which showed expectations for inflation over the next two years plunging to a 22-year low.

The run of recent rate cuts may be over. On Thursday the Reserve Bank will review the official cash rate (OCR) for the first time since Governor Graeme Wheeler cut the benchmark rate to a record low 2.25 per cent. It was the fifth interest rate cut in the last seven OCR reviews.

Landlords are liable for damage to houses accidentally caused by their tenants, according to a New Zealand Court of Appeal decision in a long-running insurance case. The court has this month ruled in favour of Kenji and Teiko Osaki in a battle that has gone through NZ's Tenancy Tribunal, District and High Courts.

Christchurch company director Jo Scott was taken aback by a recent letter from Kiwibank asking if she was an American and whether her company had financial links to the US. She isn't and her company doesn't.

More curbs could be poured onto the housing market if house prices within and outside Auckland continue to strengthen. A rebound in March housing figures has economists speculating on whether the Reserve Bank will beef up the current "loan to value" ratios or even bring in a new set of restrictions.

The Reserve Bank is blocking attempts to find out whether Graeme Wheeler's advisers supported his decision to raise interest rates in 2014.

Asking prices for houses with five or more bedrooms have hit a record $1.03m, a near-19 per cent jump in the last year, according to Trade Me's latest figures. The results agree with Real Estate Institute data this week showing sales of $1m-plus homes rose 27 per cent in the year to March.