New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is pushing to carve out first-home buyers from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's plans to limit growth in high loan-to-valuation ratio mortgage lending.Key told reporters in Wellington yesterday: "I've discussed the matter at length with the Reserve Bank governor, including last night, and I'm convinced we can navigate a way through, which means that the banks have… [fewer] loans which are more leveraged, but continue to make sure there's opportunities for first-home buyers to have higher degrees of leverage." Key was speaking after Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler reiterated that the central bank was considering 'speed limits' on the growth of high LVR loans and the latter stood firm against suggestions that first-home buyers be 'carved out' or exempted from the limits, as they have been in other countries.The issue of first-home buyers continuing to have access to high LVR loans is heating up as a political topic as the Reserve Bank continues to consult about 'speed limits'. They are part of a range of macro-prudential tools the bank is developing to slow riskier lending and to take some of the heat out of house price inflation, which is accelerating towards 10 per cent.Key pointed to other countries that have carved out first-home buyers and said he was talking with the Reserve Bank to ensure first-home buyers still had opportunities to borrow with low deposits."I for one would not support a situation where first-home buyers are completely locked out of the market," Key said. "The people we're wanting to get into the market are first-home buyers," he said.Earlier, Wheeler had said the bank had to include first-home buyers in its planned 'speed limits' because they made up about a third of high LVR lending, which itself made up a third of all new lending.Wheeler pointed to how other central banks, including those in Israel, Norway, Sweden and South Korea, had introduced more absolute high LVR limits but with 'carve-outs' for first-home buyers. The Reserve Bank was, instead, looking to limit the overall growth of high LVR lending through speed limits that applied to all high LVR lending, rather than just to investor or second- and third-home buyers."If you look at what many countries have done, they've carved out exemptions for first-home buyers but then put absolute constraints/limits on all other high LV lending. The thing we looking at, given that first-home buyers are roughly 30 per cent of the market for new mortgages, is whether we should bring in speed limits," Wheeler said.He was asked directly if the Reserve Bank would carve out or protect first-home buyers."Carving that out would be a big exemption in terms of mortgage pressures. We haven't made up our mind at this point. We're out consulting with banks. First-home buyers are a very significant part of the market and the Auckland market is experiencing very rapid house price appreciation."Key said: "I'm not sure absolutely that there'll be a carve-out, but I think the banks will have flexibility on