(Adds comment from finance minister)
WELLINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) - The New Zealand government on Friday reiterated plans to introduce property cooling measures after the IMF warned that “unsustainable” house price rises could trigger a pronounced correction.
Finance Minster Grant Robertson said the government will address the issue of the elevated house prices in the coming weeks and in the 2021 budget later this year.
The country’s success in managing COVID-19 has enabled a faster economic recovery than other countries, but a slew of monetary and fiscal stimulus measures has super-charged property market values.
The International Monetary Fund’s warning, in a staff report released on Friday, comes as New Zealand’s median prices for residential property rose by a record 22.8% year-on-year in February, according to the latest data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).