Limiting LVRs is one of four instruments the central bank has been considering adding to its regulatory “toolbox” to help cool off overheating credit markets and prevent rapid rises in house prices such as those seen between 2002 and 2007.
However, following the release of the central bank’s latest financial stability report, new Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler said that even if he could limit LVRs we wouldn’t do so at the moment.
Although several regulators overseas including in Canada and Israel have made such a move, Wheeler said there would have to be significant systemic risks for New Zealand to go down that path.
Wheeler made his comments despite the Reserve Bank’s report raising concerns about high levels of household debt and the increasing share of high-LVR loans in the mortgage market.
“Discussions with banks suggest that high loan-to-value ratios (LVR) loans are now beginning to form a significantly larger share of new mortgage lending than has been the case for most of the period since the financial crisis,” the report said,
“Residential mortgage lending conditions appear to have loosened with high loan-to value ratio (LVR) lending becoming more prevalent.
“If credit demand was to strengthen significantly, and banks were willing and able to accommodate that demand, indebtedness (relative to income) could resume an upward trend eroding households’ resilience to shocks.”
The report said and house prices remain over-valued on some metrics and banks will need to remain alert to the risks associated with a “marked acceleration” in credit growth to the household sector.
“At present, credit growth is still reasonably subdued, but the Reserve Bank remains alert to developments that might warrant macro-prudential intervention."
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