RBNZ will need to explain impacts on housing regularly Debt-to-income ratios and interest only mortgages considered (Adds background, comments from analyst and opposition leader)
WELLINGTON/SYDNEY, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The New Zealand government on Thursday tasked the country’s central bank with considering the impact its monetary and financial policy decisions have on housing prices, a move to help calm the country’s red-hot property market.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) must take into account government policy relating to more sustainable house prices.
“Today’s announcement is just the first step as the government considers broader advice about how to cool the housing market,” Robertson said in a statement. “We know the rapid increases we have seen in recent months are not sustainable, which has meant many first-home buyers are struggling to access the market.”
The Reserve Bank – Te Pūtea Matua welcomes the direction it has received today from the Minister of Finance. The Bank is tasked with considering how it.
LSAP retained at NZ$100 bln (Recasts with Governor Orr’s comments from press conference)
WELLINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - New Zealand’s central bank said on Wednesday it was in no rush to tighten monetary policy, after it kept interest rates at record lows and sounded a cautious note about the economic outlook.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) said it did not expect to tighten settings until it was confident inflation was sustained at the 2% per annum target midpoint and employment was at maximum sustainable level.
There was no specific date when that confidence would “magically arrive”, Governor Adrian Orr said in a news conference. The central bank kept the official cash rate at a record low of 0.25%, as widely expected.