BNZ joins Westpac, ANZ and ASB to demand 30 per cent deposits from investors

Bank of New Zealand has joined ANZ, Westpac and ASB in hiking the deposits needed by residential property investors for rental property loans.

From December 7, investors will need a 30 per cent deposit for a loan on investment properties.

Ordinary home buyers will still qualify for home loans with 20 per cent deposits.

BNZ customer, products and services executive Dan Huggins said that given the importance of ensuring home ownership remained within reach of buyers and that prices remained sustainable, the bank had decided to move back to its pre-Covid loan-to-value ratio (LVR) requirements.

The move follows those of ANZ and ASB earlier this month, both of which cited high house prices and the importance of ordinary families being able to buy homes of their own without being crowded out by investors.

Westpac was already asking for 30 per cent deposits from property investors seeking loans to buy residential investment properties.

The Reserve Bank was already consulting on bringing in higher LVR restrictions in March.

When ANZ made the move on November 13, the bank's personal banking head, Ben Kelleher,, said it was designed to get more people into homes of their own.

“It’s in everyone’s interests for residential property prices to be sustainable [in the] long term and for home ownership to be accessible to as many Kiwis as possible,” Kelleher said.

On November 13, ASB chief executive Vittoria Shortt said a big increase in investor demand for properties threatened to take the price of houses down a “potentially unsustainable path”.

Source: Stuff