The NZIER shadow board believes the Reserve Bank should raise the official cash rate when it reviews it tomorrow.

The NZIER shadow board believes the Reserve Bank should leave the official cash rate on hold at 2.5 per cent when it reviews it tomorrow.

Editorial: The Reserve Bank is sailing on largely uncharted sails with its restrictions on low-deposit home loans.

New rules restricting low deposit home loans will now not apply to new home builds, says the Reserve Bank.

Borrowers need to be aware that current market pricing implies a rise in interest rates of around 2 percentage points over the next two years, writes Brian Fallow.

The share of new mortgage lending going to borrowers with low deposits halved in October, the first month in which the Reserve Bank's curbs on such loans applied.

Lending restrictions are starting to ease the pressure on the property market but first-home buyers are still finding it tough as prices and interest rates creep up.

A fall in the number of first-home buyers is plaguing Australia too - evidence, the Finance Minister says, that it's not the Reserve Bank's mortgage restrictions.

The Reserve Bank doubts its curbs on mortgage lending at high loan-to-value ratios will have a material counter-productive effect on house building.

Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler has signalled he might push back the start of increases in the official cash rate if the New Zealand dollar stays high.

It may be six months or so before the Reserve Bank begins to raise the official cash rate, but monetary tightening is already under way, writes Brian Fallow.

Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler has explained his decision to impose curbs on mortgage lending at low deposits.

The Reserve Bank has rejected claims that its curbs on low-deposit mortgage lending will have the perverse effect of reducing the amount of new housing.

The struggle to enter the property market for the first time has been a hot topic, from property availability to lending criteria.

The Reserve Bank has put borrowers on notice, pencilling in a full percentage point of interest rate rises next year and as much again in 2016.

Auckland house prices are still rising fast, as the Reserve Bank's loan-to-value ratio moves are about to be introduced next month.

Rising New Zealand property values accelerated last month as the lack of listings in Canterbury and Auckland continue to overheat the market.

The widespread assumption that most first home buyers will be shut out of the housing market by the Reserve Bank's curbs on low-deposit home loans may be too swift.

Now that we know what the Reserve Bank is doing by way of curbs on low-deposit mortgage lending the question is whether it will work, writes Brian Fallow.

The curbs on low-deposit home lending announced by the Reserve Bank yesterday are likely to prove more restrictive than it thinks, the Bankers Association warns.

Christchurch and Auckland property prices still increasing as regions slow over winter, figures show.