Articles tagged DTIs

The Reserve Bank has announced it will slightly relax its Loan to Value Restrictions (LVRs) on owner occupiers and rental property investors from January 1 because of a moderation in house price inflation.

The Reserve Bank is widely expected to signal a relaxation of its unloved Loan to Value Ratio restrictions on home buyers. Politicians and first home buyers hope any relaxation will help them buy a house sooner, but they should be careful what they wish for, writes Bernard Hickey.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson is hopeful the Reserve Bank will ease restrictions on Loan To Value Ratios for first home buyers, in part because other measures being taken by the Government to take pressure off house prices could give the regulator room to breathe easier.

Updated

It's like deja vu all over again for the Auckland housing market and the conditions are now in place for another post-election surge. Bernard Hickey surveys the real estate and political landscape and finds Bill English just lit the fuse for another boom if the Government is re-elected in its current form and a rudderless Reserve Bank loses its nerve.

Prime Minister Bill English has rediscovered his jawbone and has sent a clear message to the Reserve Bank that he expects it to start thinking about scrapping its restrictions on loan to value ratios, now that house prices across the country are flat or falling. He also said a new limit on debt to income multiples that the bank wanted to introduce was no longer needed.

In today's email we look at the funding squeeze on the big banks, Wheeler's warning on houses, and the progress of the DTI limits (and we check out the covfefe coverage of Trump's midnight tweet).