A 27-year-old man has been arrested and charged with the murder of a man who was found dead in a south Auckland sleep-out last week.

The body of Richard John Lees, 55, was discovered by his flatmate last Friday and police believe he was attacked in the converted garage he lived in on Great South Road in Manurewa.

A post-mortem revealed he died from head injuries.

On Tuesday morning police revealed they had arrested a 27-year-old unemployed man on Monday night and charged him with murdering Mr Lees.

The man, who has not been named, has also been charged with the theft of items allegedly taken from Mr Lees' home.

He will appear in Manukau District Court later on Tuesday.

Officers are on Tuesday searching a number of properties which they say are of interest to their investigation.

A focus of their inquiry is whether anyone else was involved in the death of Mr Lees, a statement from police says.

Mr Lees had a wife and daughter and family in New Zealand and England.

Police say he was last seen around 11am on Thursday and want people to come forward with any information of suspicious activity around the property between Thursday morning and 10am on Friday.