Housing
Unitary Plan votes continue at council meetings
Auckland Council is moving along with its decisions on the city's Unitary Plan, having already rejected some of the Independent Panel's proposals.
Questions over demand for Chch apartments
A network of multi-million-dollar apartments is going up in central Christchurch. But will anyone want to live in them? Conan Young reports. Audio
Cost of housing improvements outweighed by benefit to sick children, MPs told
The cost of making rental homes warm is tiny in comparison to the costs of children getting sick, a housing advocate has told politicians.
Cost to build a home rises
The cost of building a home in New Zealand's main cities has risen by 20 per cent since the Canterbury earthquakes. Audio
House prices rise in July - REINZ
New Zealand's median house price has nudged back through the half-a-million-dollar barrier. Audio
Median NZ house price reaches $505k
New Zealand's median house price has nudged through the $500,000 barrier as the number of houses available for sale falls by a third.
Call to rate Auckland's apartments and carparks equally
An Auckland mayoral candidate wants to base the city's rating system on the value of land, to discourage landbanking and boost home building.
Auckland Council begins marathon Unitary Plan meeting
Auckland councillors begin a marathon meeting this morning to finalise the city's development blueprint, the Unitary Plan.
Apartment dwellers face another night without power
The operations manager for the Metropolis Apartments, where hundreds of residents face another night without power, says there is no back-up option available. Video, Audio
Auckland apartment without power for 3 days
Residents in Auckland's Metropolis Hotel Apartments will spend their third night in the dark tonight with no word on when power might be restored. Video, Audio
Auckland Council planners argue Māori sites should be protected
Political battle lines have been drawn by a report advising Auckland councillors to reject parts of the re-written Unitary Plan.
Auckland councillors advised to reject parts of Unitary Plan
Controversial protections for thousands of sites of value to Maori could be re-instated in Auckand's unitary plan. Audio
Auckland Council wants changes to Unitary Plan
A council report recommends changes to the proposed plan, including reinstated protection for more than 2000 Māori sites.
Fight for construction workers to feed Auckland's building boom
Auckland's hunger for construction workers threatens to starve Christchurch in the final phases of the quake rebuild. Audio
Housing NZ loses meth-contamination cases
Housing New Zealand has lost two recent meth-related Tenancy Tribunal cases.
Goff pledges 2.5% Auckland rates rise limit
Auckland mayoral candidate Phil Goff pledges to keep rate rises at an average 2.5 percent.
English calls for more specific housing meth tests
Consultation on new meth-testing guidelines will begin later this year, Housing New Zealand Minister Bill English says. Audio
Drug Foundation critical of meth contamination evictions
The Minister responsible for Housing New Zealand, Bill English, says the tests for meth-contamination in state houses will have to be used until something better comes along. Audio
Far too few new homes suit elderly people - lobby group
Just 2 percent of new houses are designed to suit the elderly - and New Zealand's ageing population makes that a problem, a housing lobby group says.
$800k homes: Behind the headlines
Analysis - Saying most Unitary Plan homes would cost more than $800,000 makes a good headline, but is just one outcome of computer modelling, writes RNZ's Todd Niall.