By Leith van Onselen Fairfax’s Max Mason has written a piece today in The SMH arguing that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) speed limits on high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) mortgage lending, implemented on 1 October 2013, are failing to cool New Zealand house prices: Tighter lending restrictions imposed by New Zealand’s central bank
By Leith van Onselen The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has released its December house price results, which registered a significant fall in quality-adjusted values nationally, with prices also down across two of the three biggest markets. In the month of December, the national stratified median price fell by 1.0% to just over
From Interest.co.nz: Gross Domestic Product rose 1.4% in the September quarter on the back of the largest expansion in the agricultural sector in 25 years, according to Statistics New Zealand. The extremely strong result, on the back of a rebounding dairy market following drought earlier this year, is stronger than the average expectation of economists
Here’s an interesting tidbit: The next three Avatar films will be made in New Zealand, the Prime Minister has announced at a press conference with the film’s director James Cameron. Mr Key announced this morning that the Government had signed a memorandum of understanding with the film’s makers to secure the multi-film deal. He said
From Interest.co.nz: Westpac economists say the slump in house sales volumes during the past two months is a “strong signal” that prices are about to cool. Latest Real Estate Institute figures showed that while the median price surged to a new high of $425,000 in November, the number of sales was down 6.6% compared with
By Leith van Onselen The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has released its November house price results, which registered an increase in median values nationally, with price increases also recorded across the major markets. In the month of November, the national stratified median price rose by 1.2% to just over $437,000. Prices rose
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has today changed its limits on high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) mortgage lending to exempt new home construction, in a move that is clearly aimed at stimulating housing supply: New residential construction loans will now be exempt from the loan-to-value (LVR) restrictions introduced from 1
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) speed limits on high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) mortgage lending appear to be showing more signs of success, with the latest housing loan approvals data from the RBNZ suggesting that mortgage demand is falling, as evident by year-on-year growth in the number of approvals (-8.6%)
From Banking Day: The Reserve Bank of New Zealand reported that loans with a loan-to-valuation ratios of over 80 per cent fell to NZ$571 million in October from NZ$1.19 billion in September..high LVR lending fell to 12.8 per cent of new mortgage flow in the first month of the new policy. After exemptions, this lending
By Leith van Onselen I noted last week how the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) speed limits on high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) mortgage lending were showing early signs of success, with the latest housing loan approvals data from the RBNZ suggesting that mortgage demand was falling as evident by year-on-year growth in the number
By Leith van Onselen Last week’s release of the bi-annual Financial Stability Report by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) suggested that it was starting to see some early impacts from its speed limits on high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) mortgage lending, implemented on 1 October 2013, although the curbs had yet to flow through
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) yesterday released its biannual Financial Stability Report (FSR), which warns on housing risks and assesses the initial impact of its speed limits on high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) mortgage lending, which were implemented on 1 October 2013. According to the RBNZ: “The main threat to
By Leith van Onselen The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has released its October house price results, which registered an increase in median values nationally, with price increases also recorded across the major markets. In the month of October, the national stratified median price rose by 1.6% to just over $423,000. Prices rose
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) yesterday released its household credit data for the month of September, which revealed an acceleration in the growth of New Zealand mortgage debt, which increased to an annual pace of 5.8%: the fastest pace of growth in five years (see next chart). The growth
RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler argues this morning that evidence is building that the bank’s new LVR limits are working. And what a breath of fresh air is the framing of the issue versus the RBA’s “power of positive thinking ” approach. No ‘it’s different here’ claptrap in NZ.
By Leith van Onselen The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has released its September house price results, which registered an increase in median values nationally, but mixed results across the major markets. In the month of September, the national stratified median price rose by 0.8% to just under $426,000. Prices rose by 1.8%
I have said it before and I will say it again: New Zealand is leaving Australia for dead when it comes to housing policy. Unlike the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), which continue to hose down concerns about risks building in the Australian housing market, New Zealand’s central
The SMH is doing its bit today to undermine New Zealand’s admirable macroprudential experiment with some propaganda from Rate City: After New Zealand recently introduced tougher restrictions on higher-risk lending by its banks, new figures suggest Australian banks are also offering more home loans that require a relatively small deposit. RateCity today says the proportion of
From Banking Day: Commonwealth Bank’s New Zealand subsidiary ASB has announced that customers with pre-approvals for high loan-to-valuation ratio mortgages must “use them or lose them” within 10 days, in its most drastic measure yet to slow lending to meet the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s new “speed limit”. ASB apologised to customers for withdrawing
By Leith van Onselen The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has released its August house price results, which registered a big rise in median values nationally driven by escalating prices in New Zealand’s biggest market, Auckland, where the stratified median price hit a whopping $645,653. In the month of August, the national stratified
By Leith van Onselen Yesterday, New Zealand’s parliament passed new laws to free-up land supply and remove planning bottlenecks in a move aimed squarely at improving housing affordability: The Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill passed its third reading in Parliament today 63 votes to 56 and will come into effect Monday 16 September. “This
By Leith van Onselen Debate over the likely impact and merits of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) speed limits on high loan-to-value (LVR) mortgage lending continues, with Fitch Ratings Agency arguing that the reforms will have limited impact on overall mortgage demand and house prices, but should help improve financial stability by lessening
By Leith van Onselen Following on from Houses & Holes’ earlier post summarising Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) modelling showing a potential 4% hit to house prices arising from its speed limit on high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) lending, above is an interesting short video of Interest.co.nz’s Gareth Vaughan explaining the changes and some of
From Banking Day, the RBNZ has high hopes for the efficacy of its new LVR rules: The bank’s regulatory impact statement on the speed limit announced on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank’s modelling suggested the limit could reduce credit growth by 1-3 percentage points in the first year. Mortgage lending grew 5.4 per cent or
By Leith van Onselen Just in, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has officially launched speed limits on high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) mortgage lending, effective from 1 October 2013. From the RBNZ website: Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler today announced that from 1 October banks will be subject to restrictions on high loan-to-value ratio
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has released further details on its plan to put “speed limits” on high loan-to-value (LVR) lending, which has recently accounted for around 30% of new lending over the past year. Under the proposed changes, mortgages with an LVR of more than 90% would still
By Leith van Onselen The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has released its July house price results, which registered falls in New Zealand’s two major markets and nationally. In the month of July, the national stratified median price fell by 0.5% to $413,124, with prices in Auckland and Christchurch – New Zealand’s two
From Bloxo: This weekend New Zealand’s trade minister announced that some of its exported dairy products have potentially been contaminated with bacteria that cause botulism. The trade minister noted that they understand that exports to Australia, China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Vietnam have been affected. As dairy products account for around 25% of New
By Leith van Onselen Two bank economic reports have been released today anticipating ongoing strong house price growth in New Zealand irrespective of whether the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) implements loan-to-value ratio speed limits, which will force the RBNZ to raise interest rates from 50-year lows. First up is HSBC’s Paul Bloxham: New
By Leith van Onselen New Zealand’s opposition Labour Party has announced that, if elected, it would emulate Australia and restrict foreign purchases of real estate to new dwellings, as well as implement a capital gains tax on second homes: Labour’s proposal to ban all foreign non-residents except Australians from buying existing houses is aimed at
