New Zealand needs more tradies - and women are being urged to take up the tools to help address a looming shortage.

Kiwis spending more on dining out helped electronic card spending rise in January.

Fletcher executives will face protests from a small Maori community in Mangere when they attend a planning hearing tomorrow for a proposed new housing project.

Ngarimu Blair, deputy chairman of Ngati Whatua Orakei Trust talks to NZ Herald about 30 new whanau houses, built by the hapu for descendants. The first families shift into these Orakei places next month.

A lawsuit against building products maker James Hardie Industries has lost its bid to let potential plaintiffs join after a Dec. 31 cut-off date.

While land can be used more or less efficiently, the supply of well-located sites is fixed and the only response to increasing demand is a price increase, writes Zbigniew Dumienski and Nicholas Ross Smith,

The Council does not build the homes. That is the role of the private development and community housing sectors, writes Ree Anderson.

New Zealand's banking system remains in good health, but heavily indebted dairy sector and heated property market are posing increasing risks to lenders.

Serious weathertightness issues have been found at the popular Eastcliffe Retirement Village in Orakei and repairs to the buildings will cost $12 million and take five years to fix.

An expert report to Auckland Council suggests a huge shortfall in the amount of affordable terraced housing likely to be built over the next 30 years.

Tenants' rights groups have welcomed plans to insulate all rental properties, but nearly 100,000 would be exempt where it was impossible to retro-fit insulation.

Housing supply in Auckland will not be a 2017 election issue simply because a lot of the issues highlighted and debated over the past few years will be well addressed or advanced by then, writes James Kellow.

The Government has fast-tracked the building of a further 1000 houses and apartments at Hobsonville Pt and about 300 of those will cost less than $550,000.

Three ministers is not enough, writes Toby Manhire. "To have a hope of slaying the many heads of the housing crisis hydra, there may need to be even more new ministers appointed."

Shoddy buildings are going up in Auckland with workers encountering serious problems and inspection fails at some sites.

The latest round in the Government’s fight to control soaring Auckland house prices has begun in earnest.

Nick Smith has defended his plans to free up crown land in Auckland to build new homes despite claims people could end up living on top of cemeteries.

Desperate home-buyers have resorted to sleeping in cars overnight in the hope of securing one of 12 sections when they go up for sale this morning.

Housing Minister Nick Smith is reminding Auckland Council of Government’s power to override local government if it does not co-operate on speeding up the supply of affordable housing.

A $200 million loan plus ownership of state houses worth $1.2 billion have given the Tamaki Redevelopment Company clear financial clout.

John Key claims the Auckland housing market is not overvalued and that high prices are the result of market forces. What do you think? Have your say here.

This week, Finance Minister Bill English was dealt a blow by the Salvation Army, which rejected his suggestion it buy Housing New Zealand stock.

Councils may soon face private sector competition for issuing building consents again, as part of a Government drive to make housing more affordable.

Contestants in Television New Zealand's new hit DIY reality show may face tax bills of many thousands of dollars.

Housing New Zealand has told MPs this morning it could not build state houses any faster even if it was given a blank cheque.

A "ruckus" caused by a 60-year-old state house tenant who refused to move has helped to postpone new housing development in part of Glen Innes.

What took hold of Nick Smith when he claimed the Resource Management Act added $30 billion to housing costs and stopped 40,000 new houses in the past decade?

Property developers say the failure to quickly resolve Auckland's housing crisis is not their fault - lack of infrastructure is one of the biggest impediments to more building.