It is on this basis that the Reserve Bank recently took the (micro-prudential) measure of increasing high LVR risk weights on the housing exposures of the major banks (RBNZ, 2013c). BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  A number of countries have applied LVR restrictions over the past few years, including Canada, Sweden, Norway, Israel, Korea and Hong Kong SAR.
In the case of Sweden and Norway, the LVR restrictions are in the form of guidelines rather than hard regulatory limits. The LVR restrictions often work in concert with regulatory debt servicing limits (e.g. Korea), while insured mortgages in a number of economies are exempted from the restrictions (e.g. Canada and Hong Kong SAR).