Homeowners have been spared the threat of mortgage rates above 8 per cent, as the Reserve Bank continues to hold back on interest rate hikes. The central bank kept the official cash rate (OCR) on hold at 3.5 per cent, as was widely expected.
Up to a quarter of Kiwi mortgages are interest-only loans. But the Commerce Commission says it has no plans to investigate interest-only loans, as Australian regulators crack down on the products fuelling a property investment boom.
The Reserve Bank left the Official Cash Rate unchanged at 3.5 percent, with the next move likely to be a rise late next year.
Banks are worried middle aged home buyers are too old to pay off their mortgage before they retire. But a banking expert said banks would never admit to imposing an age limit because it was illegal to discriminate on the basis of age.
According to an international property expert, New Zealand is only experiencing the “beginning” of the Chinese interest in our property.
A quarter of a century after pioneering inflation targeting, New Zealand’s central bank is recommending the use of additional tools to control prices as its influence over long-term domestic borrowing costs wanes.
