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To get a deposit up to 20% in today’s housing market takes years. It’s a common story. You can afford to take on a mortgage but the bank won’t let you. Kāinga Ora isn’t an option for higher earners due to income caps and house price caps. It just isn’t fair, right? We saw a gap, so we're filling it.

On March 23 the government surprised everyone with some draconian changes in the ability of property investors to deduct interest expenses when calculating their tax obligations. Will we really see big changes which could stop house prices rising for an extended period as the government would like? No.

Newsroom’s Alexia Russell sat down with Chief Squirrel JB to chat about what the Government's recent announcement means for first home buyers. Does it remove the stumbling blocks, or is it still hard as ever for young Kiwis to get onto the property ladder? Are there going to be any unintentional consequences?

We all know that the residential real estate markets all around New Zealand have been rampant since just after the middle of last year. We've been here before and none of the 'remedies' seem to have prevented prices from rising at pace.

The last time 40% deposits for investors were introduced, Auckland house prices had been soaring for four years. This time, we're only a year into the current frenzied house price cycle, and interest rates are much lower than they were. So how much impact will reintroducing the rule have?

Economy expert Tony Alexander discusses the latest results from his surveys of mortgage advisers and real estate agents, plus how a change in LVR restrictions will affect New Zealand's housing market.

Most of us store a large part of our wealth in property. It could be in our owner-occupied home, a holiday house or an investment portfolio. And a large number of property owners are starting to head towards retirement.

Each month I run a survey with the REINZ of real estate agents all around New Zealand, asking them what they are seeing. My latest survey, which yielded a good 369 responses, shows that FOMO, fear of missing out, remains as strong as ever.

Whilst low interest rates are a major catalyst for increasing house prices, it fundamentally comes down to a supply side issue that many countries haven’t solved, including New Zealand.

I started writing this property-focussed column for Squirrel Mortgages back in June this year. If you’ve been reading it from then you'll still be surprised like I am that housing markets around the country are so strong, but not as surprised as those who haven't had the chance to read it.

One of the advantages which existing home owners have over first home buyers is experience. They have learnt that as a rule there is no “best” time to buy property and it is wise to simply get on with it as soon as one is comfortable with the debt to be taken on, and then manage changes along the way.

As I've eluded to over the past few months, I've expected house prices to stay reasonably stable, especially entry-level properties. However, there will be pockets of the market that are hit harder, and one of the segments is apartments.