Week following introduction of LVR 'speed limits' saw second lowest number of mortgage approvals in a normal working week this year

It was certainly not business as usual for the country's mortgage lenders last week, new Reserve Bank figures show.

Last week was the first full week since the RBNZ's October 1 introduction of "speed limits" on high loan to value lending and the initial impact has been marked.

According to the RBNZ's weekly housing loan approval series (which it styles as an "experimental" series) there were 5,999 house loan approvals, down nearly 9% on the number recorded in the previous week but, more tellingly, the second lowest number all year for a normal working week - that is one not affected either by the summer holidays or by statutory holidays.

Of course the latest week's figures could point to the fact that there had actually been a relative increase in activity prior to the LVR introduction, as people rushed to get house deals through. However, in the past two months the numbers of approvals have hovered in a fairly consistent range of between 6,200 and 7,000, with amounts borrowed at around $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion.

And it is worth noting that the number of approvals in the latest week was down some 15% on the number in the equivalent week a year ago.

In terms of the amount of money approved, it still (just) broke the $1 billion mark that has been consistently breached this year, but was down some 16% on the previous week's figure and down 14.5% on the figure of the equivalent week a year ago.