RBNZ’s Wheeler imposes low equity lending limits from October, reducing need for rate hike

Tue, 20 Aug 2013

By Paul McBeth Aug. 20 (BusinessDesk) - Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler will impose restrictions on the amount of low equity home lending private banks can write from October, in a bid to cool rampant housing markets in Auckland and Christchurch, and reducing the need for rate hikes against the backdrop of an overvalued currency. “In the current situation, where escalating house prices are presenting a threat to financial stability but not yet to general inflation, macro-prudential policy offers the most appropriate response,” Wheeler...

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