ASB cuts its fixed home loan rates to keep up with its main Aussie-bank rivals, leaving Kiwibank as the last major to move

ASB, the last of the big Aussie banks, has moved its fixed home loan rates lower to adopt the levels first set by Westpac.

The result for ASB is that they are indistinguishable from their main rivals, except they are a few ticks lower than BNZ and Westpac at the 6 month term, and a few ticks higher than ANZ for that same short term.

There is a little variation too for carded fixed rates for three years and longer.

That leaves Kiwibank yet to move in this round, although the penalty for their core one and two years rates isn't more than 15 bps. But they will need to respond all the same.

ASB did not announce any matching term deposit rate cuts with this mortgage rate reduction, but those are likely to follow.

All these shifts lower come as wholesale swap rates dip to multi-year lows. The one year swap rate is now down to 2.81% and trending lower in a shift that started in mid-June when it had risen to 3.22%. Since then it has itself fallen -40 bps to the current levels.

In mid June, the common one year fixed mortgage rate was 4.95%, so at the retail carded level, this has only fallen -20 bps over the same period. Restraining the shift lower is that banks have not chased the term deposit rates down at the same rate as the swap rates have fallen.

When the one year swap rate was last at 2.81% in early April 2022, the one year fixed mortgage rate was 3.99% at BNZ, Kiwibank and Westpac with ANZ and ASB at 4.20%. But the six month term deposit rate was at 2.00% and the twelve month at 2.50%. Now, these rates are still up at about 3.75%. So savers are being insulated from what they had to endure three years ago.

Also different is the housing market. Median prices are now not rising, with REINZ reporting a flatlining since early 2023, the longest period of flatlining since 1997 to 2001. In contrast, median prices rose +8% for that year, culminating in a +55% rise over the prior three years. Those days are now long gone. Capital losses are as likely now as capital gains, maybe more so.

We sense that the ability to achieve meaningful discounts from carded rates is now much harder. Reader-reported mortgage rates are welcome, so please record them if you have them. We need you to record them in the comment section below, which helps us stay on top of this aspect of the home loan rates market.

And still negotiate. How flexible banks may be will depend on the strength of your financials.

One useful way to make sense of the changed home loan rates is to use our full-function mortgage calculator which is below.

And if you already have a fixed term mortgage that is not up for renewal at this time, our break fee calculator may help you assess your options. Break fees will be minimal in a rising market. But they become important in a falling market, like now.

Here is the snapshot of the lowest advertised fixed-term mortgage rates on offer from the key retail banks at the moment.

Fixed, below 80% LVR	6 mths	1 yr	18 mth	2 yrs	3 yrs	4 yrs	5 yrs
as at August 29, 2025	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
ANZ	4.99	4.75	4.75	4.75	4.99	5.59	5.59
	5.04 -0.08	4.75 -0.04	4.75 -0.04	4.75 -0.14	4.99 -0.10	5.29 -0.20	5.49 -0.20
	5.09	4.75	4.75	4.75	4.95	5.09	5.39
	5.09	4.79		4.89	5.15	5.59	5.79
	5.09	4.75	4.75	4.75	4.95	5.09	5.39
Bank of China	4.98	4.68	4.68	4.78	4.88	5.35	5.35
China Construction Bank	5.09 -0.06	4.79 -0.06	4.79 -0.06	4.89 -0.06	4.95	5.99	5.99
Co-operative Bank (*=FHB only)	4.99 -0.10	4.65* -0.04	4.75 -0.04	4.75 -0.14	4.99	5.39	5.49
ICBC	5.09	4.55	4.79	4.89	4.99	5.35	5.39
(*=FHB only)	5.19	3.99*	4.79	4.89	5.09	5.39	5.39
	5.09	4.75	4.99	4.75	4.99	5.39	5.49