New Zealand Raises Interest Rate to 4.75 Percent, Eating Into Housing Affordability

New Zealand Raises Interest Rate to 4.75 Percent, Eating Into Housing Affordability
Houses for sale and sold in central Auckland suburbs in New Zealand, on Nov. 25, 2015. Fiona Goodall/Getty Images
Rebecca Zhu
Updated:
0:00

New Zealand’s central bank has raised the official cash rate (OCR) by another 50 basis points to 4.75 percent after Cyclone Gabrielle destroyed the livelihood of many Kiwis.

“It is too early to accurately assess the monetary policy implications of these weather events, given that the scale of destruction and economic disruption are only now becoming evident,” the committee said.