ANZ Bank's economists expect annual house price inflation to hit 27% by June but are warning that current conditions won't last.
In a New Zealand Property Focus report headlined "Nothing lasts forever," ANZ's economists said house prices had been rising "at an alarming pace," fuelled by easy financing conditions.
"A number of factors have supported the recent run-up in house prices, but a key one has been very easy financing conditions," the report said.
ANZ is New Zealand's biggest home lender with home loans of $89.544 billion as of September 30 last year.
"Record low interest rates have boosted demand for housing and credit, and resulting price pressures have been exacerbated by very tight supply in the market.
"Meanwhile, abundant bank liquidity, particularly as a result of the Reserve Bank's Large Scale Asset Purchase Programme (sometimes called quantitative easing), has ensured that credit supply has also been readily available to meet this demand."
However the report also warns that the current situation is not expected to last.
It says that interest rates are expected to rise, with longer term mortgage rates expected to start rising first.
"This is expected to to pass through only very slowly to costs faced by borrowers, but eventually, debt servicing is expected to become more expensive," it said.
And mortgage availability could tighten.
"Abundant bank funding has ensured that credit growth has been readily available to meet demand, but slowing deposit growth, bank caution and policy changes are expected to see credit conditions become more of a constraint," the report said.
"Eventually, these factors, alongside affordability limits and other headwinds, are expected to see a slowing in the housing market, though the timing is uncertain and conditions are expected to tighten only gradually."
The report also warned that while changes to mortgage interest rates would be gradual, households "need to prepare for the possibility that a greater proportion of their incomes may need to be directed towards mortgage costs in time."
The report said it would make sense for borrowers to fix at least part of their mortgage for a longer term rather than a shorter one, even though that would likely mean paying a higher interest rate initially.
ANZ's full NZ Property Focus report is available here.
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