alan bollard : the new zealand housing market extract from an address by dr alan bollard, governor of the reserve bank of new zealand, to the property council of new zealand, 9 september 2003. * * * i ’ d like now to consider in more detail the new zealand housing market, it being one of the factors behind our strong domestic economy, at a time when many exporters have seen their incomes retreat in recent months. new zealand ’ s housing sector has experienced a strong cyclical upswing over the past 18 months. it ’ s not just auckland. sales growth and rising house prices are prevalent in many parts of new zealand. building consents are at cyclically high levels. that ’ s both including and excluding apartments. residential investment is expanding the nation ’ s housing stock rapidly, yet demand continues to outstrip supply. we see this in rising prices and a shortage of properties listed for sale. the median time it takes to sell a house currently sits at an unprecedented low of just 26 days. as a consequence, recently house prices have been rising rapidly. what ’ s driving this? the answer is demand exceeds supply. demographics are part of the story. new zealand has had rapid population growth in recent years, driven by net immigration. this includes not just people coming here but people here choosing not to leave. the longstanding drift of new zealanders north and into town is also a factor. in addition, social changes are seeing the average number of persons per home reduce. life - style changes are increasing demand for new kinds of accommodation, such as inner - city apartments and coastal and lakeside properties. some of these factors have been at work for a long time. even in the late 1990s, when population growth was relatively weak, there was substantial construction activity. however, more recently population growth has been marked. the natural increase in population currently is slower than a decade ago, but recent immigration has been very strong. in terms of permanent and long - term migration we had a net outflow of 10, 000 persons per year in early 2001 and a net inflow of more than 40, 000 per year in mid - 2003. that too undersells the story. in addition we have short - term stays, such as students and those on work permits, and those who apply for residency once they are here. total migration has been running at more than 60, 000 persons per annum over the past two years. this is well in excess of the mid - 1990s.

christopher kent : opening panel remarks - fx week australia opening panel remarks by mr christopher kent, assistant governor ( financial markets ) of the reserve bank of australia, at the fx week australia, sydney, 27 march 2019. * * * thanks to fx week for the invitation to discuss the fx global code. when the fx global code was launched in 2017, the aim was that it would promote a robust, fair, liquid and transparent wholesale market. to do that, the code sets out principles of good practice. as awareness of the code builds and more market participants commit to adhering to its principles, standards will no doubt improve across the market. the code has already gained significant traction in the marketplace. a recent survey of market participants by the global foreign exchange committee ( gfxc ) confirmed that awareness of the code within the industry was now very high. almost all of those surveyed had read part or all of the code. furthermore, the vast majority of respondents indicated that they expected or required their counterparties to adhere to the code. globally, there are now more than 800 firms that have signed statements of commitment to the code and lodged them on public registers. so what do we need to do from here? globally, it is clear that the sell - side have embraced the code. what appears to be missing is comparable take - up from the buy side. this is as apparent in australia as it is in other jurisdictions. to some extent, this could be just a lag as buy - side participants take longer to complete the process of reviewing the code and aligning their practices to it. encouragingly, the gfxc ’ s survey showed that while current take - up from the buy - side was low, many of the buy - side respondents indicated that they did intend to adhere and some of those had already begun the process. more broadly, though, the gfxc is conscious that greater take - up from the buy - side will be needed and the gfxc is actively looking at ways to achieve that end. for those in the audience from the buy - side the question i would put to you is : can you justify to your stakeholders — whether they are your investors ( if you are a fund manager ) or shareholders ( if you are a business ) — why you have not adopted a set of principles which represent industry best practice when you are managing their money? the widespread adoption of the code will benefit everyone involved in the fx industry, regardless of where you sit