it is pretty similar to here.
Titles are stored electronically, and there are firms who will do the title seach for a fee (or I think you might have to attend in person?)
There is one centralised title office I think in Auckland (thats where we got our's from when I worked for a bank there 10 years ago).

Do a search for the LTO (Land Transfer Office) or Dept of lands and survey. As for records of prices paid, they should be able to point you in the right direction. Otherwise I would send an e-mail to one of the real estate agents and ask them. (Harcourts, Bayleys etc)
Hope this helps.

Watch out for properties with Native Title. If you buy it, the bro's might want it back at some stage….

We missed out when the properties were really cheap up there and I bought an original beach house there about 4 years ago for $85k. It is now only worth about 140k, but the area has massive possibilities. This block is dead flat, one street back from the water, one block back from the water and between the hotel and local shop. We will go double story which will mean views of the lake. My wife also bought a vacant block at the same time for $25k and realised 100% return when she sold it 2 years later.

Gippsland water recently submitted the plans for sewage to the ESC, to be completed by 2011. At the moment it is a quiet little town, but it is closer to Melbourne than Paynesville, has the Ocean Beach, reasonable boating facilities etc. Anywhere else in Vic, and the values would be in the $100's of thousands.

Where else could you buy a place overlooking a marina for less than $300k!

For capital gain, pick your area carefully though. Don't go anywhere Lake Reeve (wallaby st etc) Get as close to the main

Lake as possible and a view if you can. And don't rely on holiday rentals being consistent.

I have also heard wellington waters is a no go…knocked back on an enviromental impact assessment? Some of the holiday house owners are putting pressure on the council to improve the area but I only pay $650 for weekly rubbish collections, good roads and lots of parks and beach access.

You get used to the mossies, but I don't like the march flies….aeroguard is known as the Loch Sport aftershave.

Biggest thing going against the place is 50km of the most boring road in the world on the way in, and a bunch of retired permanent population who "like things the way they are". Coffee is getting better there though!!! (they need to drop the price of a breakfast).

Log onto the lochsport forum (lochsport.com), link on the right hand side to community chat forum. That will give you a good idea of what people up there seem to have concerns with.

Good luck.