New Zealand's Treasury secretary Gabriel Makhlouf is rejecting a capital gains tax to reduce demand in the Auckland property market, saying it's a supply-side problem. "We need to build more houses to meet the need we've got," he said on TV3's The Nation programme on Saturday.

New Zealand's Treasury secretary Gabriel Makhlouf is rejecting a capital gains tax to reduce demand in the Auckland housing market, saying it's a supply-side problem. "We need to build more houses to meet the need we've got," he said on TV3's The Nation programme on Saturday.

The average asking price for an Auckland home reached a record $716,050 in March according to Trade Me's Property Price index. While the national average asking price grew by around $40,000 over the last year, Auckland's had doubled that rate with a $85,300 rise. This price puts a 20 per cent deposit at $143,210.

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The Reserve Bank says house prices are "particularly stretched" in Auckland, and is calling for the Government to look at untaxed capital gains on investment property. The Reserve Bank would like to see "fresh consideration" of possible policy measures to address the tax-preferred status of housing, especially housing investment, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Grant Spencer said in a speech about housing at the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce.

Cheap petrol, high consumer confidence and good summer weather were a hot recipe for shoppers to splash out in March. Retail spending in March was up a solid 0.8 per cent on February, seasonally adjusted, almost matching the 1.1 per cent gain in February.

Mike Israel is at the forefront of a trend that some reckon could disrupt the very lucrative business of lending money to consumers and businesses. An information technology worker in his 50s, Israel is one of a growing number of people pocketing a piece of the major banks' healthy profits, by lending their savings directly to borrowers and charging interest.

Bank profits have retreated from record levels, but experts say they could well be back to their record highs later this year. KPMG's latest Financial Institutions Performance Survey found the banking sector made a net profit of $1.15 billion in the December quarter, down from a record $1.25b in September.

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Auckland's persistently heated property market may force the Reserve Bank to impose yet more restrictions, an economist says. The average sale price for a home in New Zealand's biggest metropolis has blown out to a new high of more than $750,000.