Fletcher Building has reiterated its forecast for full-year earnings and capital spending to be at the lower end of its guidance range. Operating earnings before one-time items would be at the lower end of the range of $NZ650 million to $NZ690 million ($A625 million to $A663 million) in the 12 months ending June 30, the building products and construction group said.

A typical first-home buyer in Auckland - a working couple in their late twenties - is likely to be spending over half their income on mortgage repayments according to a new report. The AMP360 Home Loan Affordability Report for March showed surging house prices in Auckland may also be stopping existing home owners from moving up the property ladder.

New Zealand residential property values have accelerated at their fastest monthly pace in at least 10 months as demand for housing in Auckland drags the country's real estate prices higher. National property values rose 8.3 per cent in the 12 months ended Thursday, accelerating from a 7.7 per cent pace in March, according to state-owned valuer Quotable Value.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has kept the official cash rate unchanged at 3.5 per cent at its latest review, but is signalling a cut may be on the cards. Governor Graeme Wheeler has dropped a reference to the possibility of rate hikes he made last month at the monetary policy statement.

New Zealand home building consents rose in March, snapping three months of declines, with increased intentions to build townhouses, units and retirement villages. Seasonally adjusted dwelling consents climbed 11 per cent to 2,175 in March from a month earlier, the biggest monthly gain since April 2013, and turning from a 6.5 per cent fall in February, according to Statistics New Zealand.

It will take an extra 76,000 houses to bring Auckland into line with household sizes in the rest of the country, an economist has suggested . BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander says there have been various estimates of the size of the city's housing shortage, ranging from 12,000 to 13,000 by the Salvation Army, to about 22,000 by the Department of Building and Housing in a 2009 report.

No interest loans designed to give low-income Aucklanders an alternative to borrowing from loan sharks are now being made. It's the second stage of the Community Finance Initiative pilot project financed by BNZ, which started making low interest loans in August last year.

Banks are reporting a surge in interest from customers keen on drawing down their KiwiSaver accounts to help pay for their first home. New rules which came into effect at the start of the month mean first-time buyers who have been enrolled in KiwiSavers for three years can now cash-up their entire KiwiSaver balance, minus the Government's $1000 "Kickstart" contribution to fund their first home.

The Government has effectively left nothing "undone" to tackle sky-rocketing house prices in Auckland, Finance Minister Bill English says English acknowledged the city's importance as New Zealand's largest, but noted the "manageable" housing markets in the rest of the country. "Two-thirds of New Zealand doesn't live in Auckland and actually their housing issues are pretty manageable.

The heated Auckland property market is being pitched to foreign buyers in Singapore and Malaysia as an "property investor's dream". A radio ad by Property Solutions Singapore, a subsidiary of a New Zealand based company, said Aucklanders spent around half their week's wages in rent, and that "could be paid to you". It highlighted the lack of property taxes in New Zealand, and claimed the Auckland market was very affordable.