Is it worth paying the break fee on fixed-term mortgages? | Stuff.co.nz If you fixed your mortgage in the middle of last year, you may be gritting your teeth as banks roll out ever-lower interest rate specials. Two-year fixed rates hovered around 6.5 per cent this time last year, compared to anything from 4.65 per cent now. But breaking a fixed-term mortgage comes with a cost.

Ngatea launches campaign to attract Auckland buyers | Stuff.co.nz A township with a population of 1200 is looking to catapult itself into the booming housing market as the next residential hot spot for Aucklanders. Hauraki District Council has launched a campaign to entice retirees and first home buyers from Auckland to Ngatea's newest subdivision, Northern Estate.

Wellington's economy is in good shape according to a quarterly report, which shows a strong performance across retail, house sales and accommodation. However, it still falls behind the national average in some sectors, including house prices, GDP, vehicle registrations and residential consents.

A New Zealand woman who narrowly escaped being crushed in the Christchurch earthquake has welcomed a law change she campaigned to achieve. Ann Brower on Thursday revisited the site where masonry collapsed on the bus she was in on February 22, 2011. "This isn't really a place where you want to celebrate," she said.

A quarter of people approaching retirement haven't worked out what they will do with their KiwiSaver nest eggs. Of those who do know, nearly six in 10 intend to leave some or all of the savings in their Kiwisaver accounts and withdraw money as and when they need it.

New Zealand's Inland Revenue Department is proposing to introduce a resident withholding tax on foreign buyers of residential property from next July as part of the government's plans to crack down on speculators. The tax department is proposing to implement the tax, which would require an amount to be withheld on the sale of residential property, to support the introduction of the two-year "bright-line" test.

The New Zealand government and Auckland Council have added more land to a plan aimed at relieving the city's property crisis as consents begin to pick up. Eleven new areas have been added to the Auckland Housing Accord, an agreement drawn up in 2013 to open up land across the city for fast-track development of homes.

Disgruntled homeowners in New Zealand have started a class action lawsuit against government-controlled insurer Southern Response. The group's lawyer, Grant Cameron, said 47 policyholders had officially filed a case in the High Court at Christchurch on Wednesday over delays by the insurer in settling Canterbury earthquake claims.

Westpac bank is reviewing its KiwiSaver scheme's investments, after being alerted to stakes it holds in certain companies on the New Zealand Super Fund's "exclusion" list. The NZ Super Fund's exclusion list includes nine companies which it has tagged as being involved in the manufacture and supply of "cluster munitions" and, or "anti-personnel mines". But the latest annual disclosure statements from KiwiSaver schemes, show three of those excluded companies appeared in popular KiwiSaver growth funds.

Prime Minister John Key is warning investors chasing gains in the Auckland housing market they could face a "nasty surprise" as he appeared to tip a cooling of booming price increases.