“We are focused on ensuring borrowers are resilient to a range of future economic and financial conditions,” reserve bank deputy governor Geoff Bascand said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We are particularly concerned about those who have borrowed in the past 12 months at high LVRs (loan-to-value ratios) and high DTIs.
“If house prices were to fall, some buyers could face the possibility of negative equity – which means the value of their property is below the outstanding balance on their mortgage,” he said.
The announcement came a day after New Zealand’s human rights commission announced it was launching an inquiry into the housing crisis, labelling it a “massive human rights failure”.