Prime Minister John Key has distanced himself from a claim by his own Housing Minister that the Auckland housing situation is "out of control".
Average values in the super city are now more than $1 million. Quotable Value figures released on Tuesday show prices have doubled on National's watch, and gone up $400,000 since Nick Smith became Housing Minister in 2013.
"I openly accept that the market is out of control in Auckland," Dr Smith told Paul Henry on Wednesday.
Speaking from the East Asia Summit in Laos, Mr Key distanced himself from the comments.
"I would have to see everything he said. We've certainly said that house prices are moving up faster than we would like and we're doing everything we can to both stabilise those and make sure that the market is accessible for everybody," said Mr Key.
"The market's been moving quite erratically in Auckland in so much that if you look at the supply that's coming on and the risks there, I think there's an argument that at least, people need to consider all of those risks."
And house prices are increasing faster in New Zealand than anywhere in the world, according to a new report.
Real estate agency Knight Frank has released its latest survey of global house prices.
Turkey officially topped the list, with an annual increase in house prices of 13.9 percent. New Zealand was second, with an annual increase of 11.2 percent. Canada placed third, with 10 percent.
However if you strip out inflation, New Zealand rises to the top of the list.
"Our index tracks nominal price growth, but if we consider real price growth, where inflation is stripped out, New Zealand finds itself in first place with 11 percent annual growth, whilst Turkey - with inflation in excess of 7 percent - is pushed down into 13th place," said Knight Frank's Kate Everett-Allen.
Question Time in Parliament was cancelled on Wednesday to make way for an epic 13-hour debate on the Government's new housing legislation, which passed not long before midnight.
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