Westpac cuts too

Westpac follows ANZ lower with reduced carded offers for the two key fixed home loan rates

Personal Finance

Westpac follows ANZ lower with reduced carded offers for the two key fixed home loan rates

15th Oct 19, 4:26pm by David Chaston

Westpac is the first to follow ANZ with a home loan rate cut to key rates.

Westpac have cut their one year 'special' rate by -10 bps to 3.55%, the same as ANZ and Kiwibank.

And they have cut their two year 'special' by -4 bps to 3.45%, also the same as ANZ.

Westpac however didn't follow ANZ with a 6 month fixed rate cut.

When will the other banks move lower?

With rising real estate volumes and higher house prices to chase, it is game on in both the real estate and mortgage markets.

And it is a market move up that seem sto be being led by Auckland.

Spring seems to be infectious.

Westpac has a similar set of conditions to ANZ for their 'special' offers; they require a minimum of 20% equity and a transactional account with a salary direct credited.

Until about a week ago, wholesale swap rates had fallen to record low levels. But in the past week they have started rising, with the benchmark two year swap rate up nine basis points in that time. However since the start of October, this same rate is still four basis points lower.

The lowest rates in New Zealand at present are offered by Chinese banks who have a retail presence here.

Our table below presents carded rates. If you have received real rate offers lower than these, please note them in the comment section below and what bank is involved. A note about related cash-backs or other incentives would be good too.

Here is the full snapshot of the advertised fixed-term rates on offer from the key retail banks.

Fixed, below 80% LVR	6 mths	1 yr	18 mth	2 yrs	3 yrs	4 yrs	5 yrs
as at October 15, 2019	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

ANZ	3.65	3.55	3.99	3.45	3.99	4.85	4.95
	4.29	3.65	3.75	3.49	3.89	4.19	4.29
	4.79	3.65	4.55	3.49	3.99	4.35	4.45
	4.79	3.55		3.49	3.99	3.99	3.99
	4.99	3.55	4.79	3.45	3.99	4.35	4.45

Bank of China	3.99	3.15	3.70	3.15	3.79	4.35	4.45
Co-operative Bank	3.49	3.49	3.59	3.59	3.89	3.99	4.09
China Construction Bank	4.70	3.19		3.19	3.19	4.95	4.95
ICBC	4.29	3.18	3.18	3.18	3.20	3.99	3.99
	4.65	3.35	3.35	3.35	3.35	3.35	3.35
	4.29	3.65	3.69	3.59	3.99	4.49	4.49
	4.35	3.69	3.69	3.59	4.05	4.45	4.55

In addition to the above table, BNZ has a unique fixed seven year rate of 5.70%.

All carded, or advertised, term deposit rates for all financial institutions for terms of less than one year are here, and for terms of one-to-five years are here. And term PIE rates are here.

Fixed mortgage rates

Select chart tabs

Source: interest.co.nz

Source:

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4 Comments

by cjmain | 15th Oct 19, 6:24pm 1571117087

asb

refix
6m 4.19
12m 3.49
18m 3.55
24m 3.45
36m 3.69
48m 3.99
60m 4.09

by Good Samaritian | 16th Oct 19, 10:43am 1571175792

Having the privilege of being the government bank, you'd think Westpac would have a moral responsibility to lead the way with lower mortgage rates.

[ Silly personal smear removed. Ed. Please respect commenting policies.]

Might be time to give the government banking privilege to Kiwibank, to keep the profits local. The NZ superfund and ACC would support this, as would every resident tax payer!!

by David Chaston | 16th Oct 19, 10:41am 1571175678

I think you will find that Kiwibank said they couldn't handle the Government's business, would cause them capital stress, and cost more in systems upgrades than they could afford. Remember, Kiwibank had to write off ~$100 mln in a IT system failure that cost their CEO his job. They will be wary of being set up to fail again by some populist policy.

by Good Samaritian | 17th Oct 19, 9:17am 1571257022

Have to disagreement with you here.

Kiwibank was starved of capital by the previous Jonkey government, which extracted dividends from Kiwibank via NZ Post who was running at a loss. Kiwibank effectively subsidised NZ Post operations.

Through this Key period loans increased by some $250 billion, and when one constrains the growth of a local bank with higher capital requirements than the big four, its easy to see who benefits; and it wasn't Kiwibank. If you need a clue as to who benefits from the previous government, look no further than the ex politician personnel the other banks employ.

Lets remember Postbank use to be the government bank prior to another state sell off. At the time of this stupid sell down, it was equivalent in capitalisation to Kiwibank. This does not support your argument that Kiwibank is two small to handle governments banking. Remind Simon Power of this, when you see him in the Westpac corporate box please.

I'd be interested if you could provide a link to this $100 million IT expense? What gets me about IT is the initial and ongoing cost, where I have never seen a robust cost benefit analysis. Large organisations use to cope without it pre 1980's, but that's a story for another day.