Housing

State house tenants wanting to buy their house can do so from today.

Residential property prices in Central Otago Lakes have plunged by more than a quarter in the past year as the recession prompted overseas investors to dump investment properties in Queenstown and Wanaka.

With the housing market seeming to have easily fended off the worst predictions of its fall, at least for now, the doomsayers have come in for some derision.

Property sales figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand show that median sale prices for Wanaka properties have dropped $27,500 in the past 12 months.

Research is beginning into how Dunedin's "unique combination" of old houses and cold climate affects how homes here can be made warmer, healthier and more environmentally friendly.

New regulations aimed at fixing New Zealand's leaky homes scandal have backfired in Dunedin, creating a mountain of paperwork and driving up costs - not to mention blood pressure levels - for homeowners, builders and the Dunedin City Council. Chris Morris reports.

Despite having thousands of people on waiting lists, including hundreds in Otago and Southland, Housing New Zealand is selling three-bedroom state houses because its clients want smaller or larger homes.

Otago property values are declining at a slightly lower rate than the rest of the country, as the market outside Auckland flattens.

The Ross family have huddled around their fire to keep warm for the past four years, but hope this winter will be different, after being accepted for the Waitati Energy Project Retrofit Roll-out.