House hunters are now competing in a shallow listings pool, forcing more of them to attend auctions.

The office of the banking Ombudsman received twice the number of formal complaints in 2008/9 than it did a year ago.

New Zealanders are still optimistic about the state of the housing market, according to an ASB survey.

House prices continued their upward momentum last month.

Auckland property prices surged nearly 6 per cent in October, says real estate company Barfoot & Thompson.

Only a small portion of the Government's allocated $18.4 million to help modest income-earners buy houses has been taken up.

The Reserve Bank has left official interest rates unchanged at 2.5 per cent this morning, while confirming they are not likely to rise till the second half of next year.

Interest rates have been left on hold by the Reserve Bank this morning, with governor Alan Bollard confirming again that he intends to keep them low till "the latter part of 2010".

Rising house prices and interest rates have combined to weaken home loan affordability to its worst level since December 2008.

The number of houses sold in September rose 10 per cent, while prices increased 0.9 per cent.

A raft of mortgage rate changes have been announced, affecting both the ANZ and National banks.

The Federal Reserve is beefing up its examination of US banks, fearing that profligate lending to commercial property developers could ultimately prove as damaging to the financial system as the subprime mortgage debacle.

Baby Boomer lifestyles 'are coming home to roost' as defaults on credit payments rise, a credit information provider says.