6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Banks commonly issue mortgage borrowers with pre-approvals, which represent a firm commitment to provide housing finance and may be valid for up to six months.
Banks raised the issue of these pipeline approvals in responding to the Reserve Bank’s consultative document so, as an initial transitory step, we are allowing banks to meet the 10 percent speed limit on high LVR lending measured as an average rate over a six month period.