Susan Edmunds

3 days ago | stuff.co.nz | Amy Ridout |Susan Edmunds |Diane McCarthy |Michael Daly

As if people needed another reason to live in Wairarapa, we have some of the most reasonable parking rates in New Zealand. While places like Wellington seem to actively discourage visitors with their sky-high parking fees, the Times-Age hit the streets to find out what people thought of Masterton, which has the lowest rates among the provincial centres. Mark Todd was glad Masterton was reasonably priced. “Go to Wellington, or anything like that and it’s crazy,” he said.

4 days ago | stuff.co.nz | Susan Edmunds

Another major bank has revised down its forecast for how far house prices will increase this year. The first half of the year has been sluggish for the property market, with prices moving about half-a-percent, according to Cotality. ANZ revised its forecast down in May, and now BNZ says it, too, has lowered its expectations. Its chief economist Mike Jones said it now expected house prices would lift 2% to 4% over the calendar year, instead of the 5% to 7% it forecast previously.

4 days ago | rnz.co.nz | Susan Edmunds

Another major bank has revised down its forecast for how far house prices will increase this year. The first half of the year has been sluggish for the property market, with prices moving about half-a-percent, according to Cotality. ANZ revised its forecast down in May, and now BNZ says it, too, has lowered its expectations.

4 days ago | rnz.co.nz | Susan Edmunds

New Zealanders may have avoided any conflict-induced petrol price spike, at least for now. There had been warnings that any disruption to international oil supplies as a result of tensions in the Middle East could push prices up at the pump. But with Iranian response to US attacks so far relatively limited, and the Strait of Hormuz remaining open, oil prices fell overnight after a small lift on Monday.

5 days ago | stuff.co.nz | Susan Edmunds |Erin Johnson |Brook Sabin

While some might expect to pay more in the major New Zealand cities for parking, how do the regions stack up in terms of the price of a space? Vanessa Rader, head of research at Ray White Group told RNZ that the average daily fee paid for CBD car parking in Auckland was $39.53, while those in the country’s capital paid $37.83, and Christchurch motorists stumped up $32.60. When divided by the traditional eight-hour day, this equates to about $4.94 per hour, $4.72 and $4.07 respectively.