Thursdays announcement from the Reserve Bank was all-in-all fairly true to economists expectations, that said, it’s ramifications could be somewhat indecipherable to the lay-person. The Official Cash Rate The Good: The long forecasted rise in the OCR looks to have been delayed, with the Reserve Bank stating “we expect to keep the OCR unchanged [at […]
Westpac Joins Critics Advocating Against LVR Restrictions
The Reserve Banks’ plan to cut down on the number of mortgages with high loan-to-value-ratio’s (LVR’s) is attracting criticisms from all sides- including the banks who will be forced to implement these measures in the near future. But why are these measures needed? Bluntly- to prevent and minimise the large scale purchase of risky debt. […]
NZ Government Announces Exemption Plans For First Home Buyers
Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard something about the governments plan to limit the amounts of high LVR loans that can be offered by major banks. If not, here’s a quick breakdown: Post-recession, the government is concerned with the levels of New Zealander’s debt, and the amount of it […]
Auckland Property Market Still Hot
It’s no secret that the property market, and the mortgage market are intimately linked. Today that is truer than ever, to the point where the government is likely to impose mortgage criteria and restrictions to control the burgeoning property sector. But what is the Auckland property market doing? In Auckland and Christchurch (where most of […]
Reserve Bank Rip-off?
The Green Party has recently released information that the Reserve Bank has being maintaining interest rates at an excessively high rate. This information- obtained from Reserve Bank documents released under the Official Information Act – indicates that inflation predictions have been consistently overestimated for months. These documents show that since 2011, interest rates have been […]
RBNZ Announcement Spells End of High LVR Lending
It’s official – the announcement of limitations on high LVR lending finally came on Wednesday. Unless you have been living under a rock, you likely have been aware that this announcement has been expected for some time now. That said, the finalized restrictions are certainly tougher than expected by most. The Expectation That approximately 12% […]
LVR Restrictions – Play the Game or Bypass it?
With new LVR lending restrictions, thousands of New Zealanders are going to find themselves struggling to gain access to an ultra competitive mortgage market. If you are looking to gain a mortgage, and have deposit of less than 20% percent of your future house’s value, you may be in this sticky situation. With less than […]
RBNZ Announcement: Change on Horizon for OCR Rates
On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) made its scheduled announcement as to the state of the Official Cash Rate (OCR). So, what did the RBNZ announce and what can we take from it? There are a few key points that can be made from the Reserve Banks announcement: 1. The New Zealand […]
Desperation and High Demand in Auckland Property Market
It’s no secret that the Auckland housing market has been expanding rapidly and unsustainably over the last year or so. In March this year, median house prices reached record highs at $400,000, and this has triggered a large degree of concern within the financial sector about the ongoing stability of our economy in a post-recession […]
Are LVR’s in New Zealand’s Best Interest?
Lately there has been a lot of focus on the negative ramifications of the new LVR restrictions, such as blocking new homeowners out the market and making mortgages cost more for those with low deposits- that’s if they can secure one at all! However, outside of the Reserve Bank there has been very little attention […]