Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today (or if you already work from home, before you shutdown your laptop).
MORTGAGE/LOAN RATE CHANGES
BNZ trimmed all fixed rates today, but only to levels their main rivals already had adopted. All rates are here.
TERM DEPOSIT/SAVINGS RATE CHANGES
No changes today. All updated rates less than 1 year are here, for 1-5 years, they are here. This review might be helpful.
THE TIDE MOVES IN FHB's FAVOUR
Our July update of the Home Loan Affordability Report shows first home buyers are now benefiting from the combination of declining house prices and falling interest rates. Now half of all 28 urban areas surveyed allow FHBs to buy a first-quartile home with a 10% deposit and a loan that takes less than 40% of take home pay to service. (Repayments at 40% of take-home pay is the tipping point for a mortgage to be classed as affordable.)
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MARKET OUTLOOK WEAK
The RBNZ is telling banks to be careful abut lending to the commercial property sector, one they say is know to have cyclical stress. "While challenges in the commercial property sector are being managed, concerns could increase if economic conditions worsen. A downturn in the sector could impact construction and employment and increase loan defaults, putting additional pressure on banks." they noted. Their review found 20% vacancy rates in Auckland's secondary office market.
ACCEPTANCE RISES FOR DIGITAL WALLETS & OPEN BANKING
Payments NZ has been surveying the payments habits and attitudes on users of the generic payments system. They found cards are still king (67%) when it comes to making everyday payments – but digital wallets are on the rise (15%). And when it comes to open banking, the number of consumers comfortable with sharing data with a third party has grown steadily – now at 37% of respondents, up from 27% in 2022 and 16% in 2020.
NZX EQUITY MARKET UPDATE
Check out our new quick update of how the NZX is faring today, as at 3pm. We welcome comments on that update story. Updates to annual results were released today for Vulcan Steel (VSL, #29), Vector (VCT, #12) and Tourism Holdings (THL, #42)..
MILK PAYOUT ESTIMATES RISE
ANZ has trumped all other main analysts with a $9.00/kgMS milk payout forecast for the 2024/25 season. Fonterra's recent rise was only to an $8.50 mid-point, so the ANZ level is near the top end of the Fonterra range. If it pans out as ANZ reckons, that would be the second highest ever (after 2021/22). This is the sort of metric that could change economic sentiment in the country. See all estimates here.
AND COMING IN AT #6 ...
Rabobank has noted that Fonterra rose to be the sixth largest global dairy company in 2024, up from ninth in 2023. That is half the size of #1 Lactalis of France. But Fonterra is almost certain to fall down these ranks as it sells down its "non-core" operations given its recent strategic shift to its B2B ingredients and foodservice business. Overall the whole global sector saw revenues rise just +0.3% over the past year. Fonterra's revenues for the current year will be released on September 25, 2024. The interim January update showed Fonterra's revenues were -15% lower than the prior year as its divestment program grew.
INFRASTRUCTURE RUSH, RISING +$1.5 BLN PER WEEK
Projects are being added to the national infrastructure pipeline fast now. The latest report from the Infrastructure Commission shows that the value of infrastructure projects in the pipeline totaled $148 mln as at June, an increase of more than +20% since March. That is $24 bln more added in just 90 days. Almost 60% of them comes from projects that are funded, part-funded or have a funding source confirmed.
PANCAKING THEN A BELOW TREND RISE
BNZ economist Mike Jones said current mortgage rate falls are unlikely to fuel an immediate lurch higher in the housing market. But they will likely prevent a deeper correction he reckons. They are not expecting any lift in house prices this year but do see a 7% lift over 2025. And when that happens, home loan rates will rise, perhaps quite quickly.
BUILDING COSTS RISE VERY LITTLE
QV has updated values in its CostBuilder tool. Those updates show the cost to build a new home has now largely stabilised, giving builder more price certainty that at any time since the start of the pandemic. Cost per m2 were up just +0.2% in the latest quarter. The changes mean build cost estimates should be a much better indication for actual build costs.
BNZ MEETS SECOND OPEN BANKING API REQUIREMENT
BNZ says it's the first bank to implement the second open banking application programming interface (API) required this year through the minimum implementation plan set for the big four banks by bank-owned Payments NZ. This second API standard is "the piece of the tech puzzle that means our customers have full control over what data they share, who they share it with and importantly, it gives them control to stop sharing their data too," BNZ says. It says some 250,000 BNZ customers are using services made possible through this technology, including services from Xero, Volley, and Blinkpay, that connect to BNZ through secure APIs.
TSB FINED $2.47 MLN OVER CCCFA BREACH
TSB has been fined $2.47 mln in the High Court for breaching the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act in relation to fees set in its standard contracts without reference to the Act's requirements. In a case brought by the Commerce Commission, TSB admitted overcharging about 42,000 customers by about $3.6 mln having self-reported the issue to the Commission. Customer remediation has occurred.
DEBUT SEEKS BANKING REGISTRATION
Fintech Debut says it's applying to the Reserve Bank to become a registered bank, aiming to become "the first locally owned bank designed for an open banking environment and artificial intelligence (AI)." In what it claims is a first, Debut says it currently applies a 5.10% per annum universal interest rate to both transaction and savings accounts, with no penalties, lock-ups, or minimum deposit requirements. Debut says it has some 7,000 people on the waiting list for early access to its app.
MODEST PROFIT GROWTH
China said profits at its largest industrial firms (mostly SOEs) rose +3.6% in the first seven months of 2024. This was little-changed from June. They were up +4.1% in July from the same month a year ago. That they are still profitable overall is a good sign, and they are not getting worse.
SWAP RATES STILL LITTLE-CHANGED
Wholesale swap rates are probably little-changed again today with a touch of firmness perhaps. Our chart below will record the final positions. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 5.22%. The Australian 10 year bond yield is up +1 bp at 3.93%. The China 10 year bond rate is up +1 bp at 2.17%. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is down -1 bp at 4.26% and the earlier RBNZ fix was at 4.18% and down -1 bp from yesterday. The UST 10yr yield is down -2 bps from yesterday at 3.79%. Their 2yr is now at 3.90%, so that curve has now tightened up, inverted by just -11 bps.
EQUITIES ALL SOFT
The NZX50 is down -0.5% in late Tuesday trade. The ASX200 is unchanged in afternoon trade. Tokyo has opened down a minor -0.1%. And Hong Kong is down -0.2% at its open. Shanghai is down -0.3%. Singapore is down -0.4%. Wall Street ended its Monday trade down -0.3%.
OIL UP
The oil price is up nearly +US$2 from yesterday at just under US$77/bbl in the US, and at just over US$80/bbl for the international Brent price.
CARBON PRICE HOLDS
Today the carbon price in unchanged today at $60.50/NZU. See our new daily chart tracker of the NZU price for carbon, courtesy of emsTradepoint.
GOLD HOLDING IN RANGE
In early Asian trade, gold is down -US$3 from this time yesterday at US$2509/oz.
NZD SOFTISH
The Kiwi dollar is down -10 bps from this time yesterday, now at 62.1 USc. Against the Aussie we are also down -10 bps at 91.6 AUc. But against the euro we are still at 55.6 euro cents. This all means the TWI-5 is now at 69.7 and again marginally lower.
BITCOIN TURNS LOWER
The bitcoin price is down -1.6% from this time yesterday, now at US$62,986. Volatility of the past 24 hours has been modest at just on +/- 1.2%.
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