Businesses are the most cheerful they have been since 1999, a good sign for growth and employment but a potential harbinger of higher inflation and interest rates.

The struggle to enter the property market for the first time has been a hot topic, from property availability to lending criteria.

The Reserve Bank has put borrowers on notice, pencilling in a full percentage point of interest rate rises next year and as much again in 2016.

Auckland house prices are still rising fast, as the Reserve Bank's loan-to-value ratio moves are about to be introduced next month.

Rising New Zealand property values accelerated last month as the lack of listings in Canterbury and Auckland continue to overheat the market.

The widespread assumption that most first home buyers will be shut out of the housing market by the Reserve Bank's curbs on low-deposit home loans may be too swift.

Now that we know what the Reserve Bank is doing by way of curbs on low-deposit mortgage lending the question is whether it will work, writes Brian Fallow.

The curbs on low-deposit home lending announced by the Reserve Bank yesterday are likely to prove more restrictive than it thinks, the Bankers Association warns.

New Zealand's government wants to trim "super profits" from land banking which it says is the biggest impediment to housing affordability in Auckland.