As many people are happy about rising house prices as are concerned, according to a BNZ survey

As many people are actually happy about rising house prices as are concerned, while large numbers are simply unconcerned, according to a BNZ survey.

The BNZ's latest monthly business confidence survey included a question about whether rising house prices bothered people.

Among those responding, 29% were actually happy about rising prices, 29% were concerned and the remaining 42% were indifferent.

"General commentary in the media, from politicians and from the central bank would have us believe that people are overwhelmingly unhappy about the way house prices are rising. But that is not the case," BNZ's chief economist Tony Alexander said.

The survey results come at a time when the Reserve Bank is widely tipped to be about to introduce limits on high loan-to-valuation lending as part of a new set of "macro-prudential tools".

Additionally, the Government has recently agreed to a housing accord with the Auckland Council, targeting 39,000 new houses in the next three years in an attempt to tackle the housing shortage in New Zealand's largest city and bring house prices under control.

Alexander said he didn't think the response to the survey question meant that Government or RBNZ attempts to rein in prices would produce a backlash.

"But it does mean that a generally silent majority of 71% of people are not concerned that house prices are escalating."

In terms of the actual outcome of the latest BNZ survey, it shows business confidence at an all-time high. It shows that a net 57% of respondents are optimistic about where the economy is heading in the next 12 months, up from 45.3% in the April survey.

"This is the highest result on record and gels with other confidence gauges showing business sentiment at strong levels," Alexander said.

"The survey would have captured any positive impact of Fonterra’s announcement of a $1.20 lift in its milk payout as well as the Government’s mid-May Budget.

"The result bodes well for employment and investment growth in the near future and as such has positive implications also for retail spending, the housing market, and Government tax receipts."

This month the BNZ also threw a new question into the survey regarding whether people are relaxed or concerned about New Zealand's rising economic relationship with China.

"Twenty-two percent of respondents said they are concerned, 66% unconcerned, and the remaining 12% indifferent. We can provide little insight into whether the 22% degree of concern is high or low but will over time be able to provide a measure of how concerns may change," Alexander said.

Another new question asked was on whether businesses are you thinking about borrowing more money for the business in the next three months.

"There is no measure in New Zealand of credit demand, only credit growth. So with this question we are going to build up a time series which may help inform the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy deliberations," Alexander said.

"What sounds like a relatively high 28% of respondents are considering borrowing more money for their business in the near future. Seventy-two percent are not planning on raising their debt levels. Next month we shall add a ‘Not Applicable” choice."

Latest sector credit figures issued by the RBNZ showed a strong surge in business lending.