Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says loan-to-value lending limits will be in place 'now and forever'

The Reserve Bank's home lending restrictions are "in place now and forever", according to its Governor Adrian Orr. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Reserve Bank's home lending restrictions are "in place now and forever", according to its Governor Adrian Orr.

This morning, the central bank eased loan-to-value (LVR) restrictions on both owner occupiers and investors.

From January, banks would be allowed to lend 20 per cent of their new loans to owner-occupiers with a deposit of less than 20 per cent.

That is up from the current level of 15 per cent.

The Reserve Bank introduced high LVR restrictions in October 2013 to cool the property market.

Despite the market cooling since then, Orr told media this morning the Reserve Bank was "some way away" from further changing the lending limits.

But he said he would be offering some clues as to where the Reserve Banks sees LVRs heading in the not too distant future.

"I would say over the next 6-12 months [we would be] providing at best as we can a flight path that sets out a timeline about how we think about LVRs going forward."

But he made clear this morning that any changes to LVRs would depend on how banks behave.

This was the Reserve Bank's "single biggest issue with LVRs ... it really comes down to banks' responsibility".

"Are they going to be responsible lenders and avoiding the types of issues that we're talking about or are we going to have to retain, or increase again, the LVRs?

"In a sense, these are speed limits and we want people to stay within the speed limits without us having to change the signs each week."

In fact, he said any future changes to LVRs would "only ever be altered according to lending conditions", including housing demand and the tax environment.

"The LVRs are in place now and forever – just what level they are set at is going to be a function of all of that complexity around what is facing this industry."

He said these lending limits would change as the economic cycle evolves.

In his November Financial Stability Report, released this morning, Orr said risks to New Zealand's financial system had eased over the past six months but vulnerabilities remained.

"In particular, households remain exposed to financial shocks due to their large mortgage debt burden."

But he said both mortgage credit growth and house price inflation had eased to more sustainable rates reducing the riskiness of new house lending.

"In response, we are easing our loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions on banks' new mortgage loans."