PHOTO: ANZ. FILE
Effective immediately, investors will need equity of 40 per cent when borrowing to buy residential property.
Managing director personal Ben Kelleher said ANZ would also recommend to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand as part of the current consultation that loan-to-valuation ratios (LVR) be set at 60 per cent for residential property investors, across the board.
“We’ve been closely monitoring the impact on residential property prices of historically low interest rates, reduced LVR requirements and existing issues with supply and demand,” Kelleher said.
“Escalating property prices are putting homeownership out of reach for many Kiwis. The current settings favour property investors particularly over first home buyers, potentially locking a generation of New Zealanders out of homeownership.
“It’s in everyone’s interests for residential property prices to be sustainable long-term, and for homeownership to be accessible to as many people as possible.
“As New Zealand’s largest home lender, decreasing the LVR on residential investor lending is one thing we can do to help bring balance to the residential property market.”
