Australia’s central bank Governor Glenn Stevens said house prices are “getting quite high” and signaled that interest rates may need to be increased further to contain inflation.

Speaking in his first television interview since taking the helm at the Reserve Bank of Australia in September 2006, Stevens told Channel Seven it was important for borrowing costs to be returned to “normal” levels. The interview was recorded in Sydney on March 22.

“It’s not wise to leave interest rates right down at rock bottom any longer than you need,” Stevens said. “It would be not doing people any favors to have a prolonged period of very low rates and then hammer them unexpectedly.”

bloomberg.com