A High Court ruling against a building inspector who failed to identify a leaky home, highlights the importance of using a suitably qualified building surveyor, says the Building Officials Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ).

The trend for the number of new houses consented has risen 50 percent since March 2011, Statistics New Zealand said today.

Auckland’s newest green star office building already has tenants signed up for more than half of its space close to 10 months ahead of completion - with infrastructure company Watercare Services as its anchor tenant.

Green co-leader Russel Norman’s response to ACT’s Freedom To Build policy shows he clearly doesn’t understand basic economics, says ACT Leader John Banks.

Data released today by the Real Estate Institute of NZ ("REINZ") shows there were 45 more farm sales (+12.7%) for the three months ended January 2013 than for the three months ended January 2012.

Robust demand drove sales volume growth in the residential property market during January to the highest level for the month in five years with the number of sales up 21 per cent on January 2012.

The New Zealand property market remained tight in January as new listings maintained their traditionally low levels for summer, while asking prices rebounded to near record levels on the back of continued seller confidence and no ease in buyer demand.

The evolution of suburban retail and commercial hubs around city-fringe locations continues to gather momentum - with the pending opening of a new 19 site venture in Rotorua next month.

New Zealand’s biggest building company, Fletcher Building, yesterday confirmed ACT’s view on housing unaffordability - it’s lack of land that is the biggest driver behind our increasing house prices, ACT Leader John Banks said today.

John Key’s claim that Kiwis scrimping and saving for their first home are just ‘crying wolf’ about the housing affordability crisis shows he’s completely out of touch, says Labour Leader David Shearer.