first-home buyers

 

PHOTO: 123RF The RBNZ has wanted a new tool to control debt-to-income ratios.

A third of first-home buyers taking out mortgages in June had borrowings that exceeded five times their pre-tax income – the level at which the Reserve Bank starts to feel uncomfortable.

In Auckland, the figure was almost one in two.

But the figures were better than two years ago, and even if the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) had the tools to intervene, right now it probably wouldn’t on the basis of those numbers, financial system policy head Toby Fiennes said.

READ MORE VIA STUFF