The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has been running a public consultation process, seeking views as to whether adding serviceability restrictions should be part of its macroprudential policy toolkit (or, more formally, the Memorandum of Understanding on Macroprudential policy).The RBNZ said earlier this week it had received 25 submissions by the cut-off date. "A majority of submissions that expressed a clear view were against serviceability restrictions being added to the Reserve Bank's toolkit," the Bank said in a brief overview of progress to date. "On the other hand, there were supportive submissions, and some submissions which went further and suggested serviceability instruments - such as a debt-to-income ratio restriction - should be immediately deployed (not just added to the macroprudential toolkit set out in the MoU as the Reserve Bank had proposed). Submissions on both sides provided concrete and detailed suggestions, and the Reserve Bank would like to thank all submitters."The Reserve Bank's response included the observation that, given the current slowdown in the housing market, the Bank considers a serviceability restriction "would not be appropriate at present, but could still have a role to play in the future".This echoes statements by acting RBNZ Governor Grant Spencer earlier this month that the central bank still wanted to include a debt to income tool in its 'toolkit' of options - but would not use it currently if it had it because of a moderation in house price inflation over the last year following its increase of deposit requirements for rental property investors to 40 percent.The submissions published on the Reserve Bank's website, less any redactions requested by submitters (eg, to anonymise any personal information), along with comments from the Reserve Bank, can be accessed here.If the MOU is amended to incorporate serviceability restrictions, the Reserve Bank considers it "should be written in such a way as to admit a range of possible formulations".The Reserve Bank "expects to discuss the results of this consultation with the Minister of Finance in due course". It will also be discussing the terms of reference for the 2018 review of the MoU with new Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson, and Treasury. The Reserve Bank considers that the potential future use of serviceability restrictions could be reconsidered as part of that wider review.In the meantime, the Reserve Bank said, it will continue to work with banks to improve the data being received on DTIs, as system issues mean data from some banks includes overstated DTI ratios for some customers, and would like this to be gradually improved. The Reserve Bank said it "may also provide further guidance around technical areas such as treatment of guarantees".