A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday; Kiwibank cuts, building consents lower, debt reaches record levels, bank account balances surge, swaps hold, NZD falls

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
As we foreshadowed on Friday, Kiwibank reduced their one and two year fixed mortgage rates today. NZ Home Loans did as well.

TODAY'S DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
Kiwibank reduced most term deposit rates by -5 or -20 bps, but they do have a new 'special' of 3.40% for 5 months. Westpac also has a TD 'special' of 3.25% for 4 months. FE Investments also lowered their 18 month rate but raised their 2 years rate to 7%.

A SOFT PATCH I
Building consents for houses were well down in Canterbury, and only slightly higher in Auckland in January.

SOFT PATCH II
ANZ does a monthly survey of NZ business confidence and they reported it downshifted in February. Firms are still flagging reasonable prospects; it’s just that the foot is planted less firmly on the accelerator. "We put the move down to global unease. Our composite indicator still flags pretty solid prospects over the year ahead, albeit in a lower gear," they say. Pricing gauges point to continued low inflation outcomes. Still, ANZ economists changed their tune today, joining in with those who see the RBNZ cutting the OCR, probably twice to 2%.

RECORD DEBT
Debt to the rural sector increased to a record level in January, to a level just shy of $59 bln and up +8.6% year-on-year. Debt to the business sector exceeded $80 bln for the first time, up +7.5% year-on-year and its fastest growth rate since February 2009.

BLOATED DEBT
Housing debt owed to banks and other non-bank financials reached a record $213 bln in January. That is +7.8% higher year-on-year and the fastest rate of growth since before the start of the GFC (July 2008). That means we added to our housing obligation by a remarkable +$15.4 bln in the year. While that is a lot, it is still lower than the $18.4 bln splurge in the year to August 2007 which caused so much indigestion. The housing deleveraging cycle is certainly over. 76.5% of this housing debt is on fixed terms; but 58.2% of it is due to roll over with a year. That is $125 bln that is vulnerable to higher rates, or can benefit from lower rates.

SURGING BANK ACCOUNTS
While our debt is growing fast, so is our money supply. M2 is up +12.9% to $148.6 bln. Household bank accounts are now at a record $152 bln, a year-on-year rise of +11%. Compare these rises to the rises in debt and you can see 'savers' are adding to their balances faster than 'borrowers' can soak it up. Even on a dollar basis, household bank accounts went up $15.1 bln in a year.

HIGHER MINIMUMS
The adult minimum wage is to increase to $15.25 per hour on April 1, 2015. The in-traing wage minimum will go to $12.20 per hour.

WHOLESALE RATES HOLD
NZ swap rates are little changed today. The short end is down by -1 bp, the long end up by +1 bp. All rates are still either at or very near record lows. The 90-day bank bill rate is softer again by -1 bps today to 2.56%.

NZ DOLLAR BACK LOWER
The Kiwi dollar slipped back to the lower end of its range today in response to the surprisingly good US data out over the weekend. It is now at 65.8 USc, and at 92.4 AUc. The TWI-5 is at 70.9. Check our real-time charts here.

You can now see an animation of this chart. Click on it, or click here.