New lending restrictions to prevent people borrowing too much relative to their income are on the cards, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's two most senior officials say.
Governor Graeme Wheeler and deputy governor Grant Spencer made the comments at a media conference after the release of the bank's six-monthly financial stability report, which highlighted concern about the resumption of unsustainably high house price inflation nationwide, and especially in Auckland.
The report stopped short of imposing new lending restrictions and the governors used a press conference to flesh out their thinking on possible additions to the country's growing array of macro-prudential controls.
They stressed there is no timetable for implementation of such a measure, which would require agreement from Finance Minister Bill English for inclusion in the government's memorandum of understanding with the central bank.
While loan-to-income ratios lending restrictions was one of "several things in the toolkit", it was not among the four macro-prudential options, included in the current MOU and "not in a state of readiness" for implementation.