NZ housing lending slows
Reserve Bank figures show New Zealand housing lending growth slowed in June after the central bank warned of upcoming restrictions on the growth of high loan-to-valuation ratio mortgages.The central bank is in the final stages of imposing macro-prudential controls to slow down house price inflation, which is running at close to 20 per cent in Auckland. Mortgage approvals data for May and June had indicated a slowdown, but they include mortgage rollovers and are not the final figures of net lending growth.Housing lending grew by NZ$738 million to NZ$183.4 billion in June from May, the slowest monthly growth since February and significantly slower than the average NZ$1.1 billion growth seen through March, April and May.The seasonally adjusted growth rate for the month slowed to 0.4 per cent from 0.5 per cent in May, having previously accelerated from as low as 0.1 per cent two years ago. Housing lending in June was up 5.4 per cent from a year ago. Farm and business lending fell NZ$159 million to NZ$130.3 billion in June from