Australia's central bank said Thursday that it does not believe the government has to intervene in the country's mortgage market.
"The Reserve Bank does not see a case for government intervention in the mortgage market to address what is a cyclical issue due to the tighter conditions in financial markets, rather than a structural change," the central bank's assistant governor for the financial system, Philip Lowe, told Parliament.
The comments are the clearest indication yet that the central bank would not support the creation of a government-backed mortgage agency to address illiquidity in the Australian securitization market.
Mr. Lowe said that lending conditions have tightened for high-risk borrowers after recent financial market turbulence, but that the availability of housing finance for "high quality borrowers" is little changed.
