WELLINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - New Zealand's government will require the central bank to take account of house prices when it sets interest rates, stepping up efforts to rein in a rampant property market. The Reserve Bank's monetary policy remit will be changed so that the bank considers "the impact on housing when making monetary and financial policy decisions," Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in a statement on Thursday (Feb 25). The New Zealand dollar rose to its highest since 2017 as investors saw the move restricting the RBNZ's ability to run loose monetary policy. The kiwi dollar jumped about a third of a US cent to 74.55 cents, its highest since August 2017. The government is trying to cool an overheating housing market, which has been fueled by record-low borrowing costs after the RBNZ responded to the coronavirus pandemic by slashing its cash rate and embarking on quantitative easing. While many central banks are required to have consideration for financial stability in addition to their inflation targets, an explicit requirement to take house prices into account is unusual. RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr pushed back against Mr Robertson's initial proposal last year, saying that ...