ASB is the latest follower to cut fixed mortgage rates, but not to any level that beats the earlier movers

The last of the big Aussie owned banks has now moved their fixed home loan rates down now. And that only leaves Kiwibank as the last major yet to move.

ASB's mortgage rate cuts are interesting, but don't actually result in any new market-leading levels. In fact, they seem to be "one step behind".

They have matched the BNZ one year shift lower to 4.49% which has since been adopted by ANZ and Westpac. And they have reduced to the same 4.49% for an 18 month fixed term, a level already claimed by Westpac. None of the other ASB reductions today are market-leading.

ASB also matched these cuts with term deposit rate cuts at the same time.

So this just leaves Kiwibank to move, and until they do - which could be soon - they will have the least competitive rate card.

Of course, BNZ will likely make another shift lower too, because they led the big banks with the 'hot' 4.49% one year rate, but so far have not moved any other of their fixed home loan rates yet.

Don't forget, the Reserve Bank will be reviewing its Official Cash Rate level mid-next week. Markets are pricing in more than a 25 basis points (bps) cut, but less than 50 bps. So basically they don't know. So 50 bps is just as likely as 25 bps in this pricing.

So savers need to be prepared for sub 3% rates sooner than they would probably like.

That same wholesale market pricing sees a total of 75 bps cut by February 2026, which is only two more meetings away after this upcoming one.

We should also note that TSB still has the market leading two year rate of 4.49% which is 16 bps lower than the new ANZ/ASB/BNZ/Westpac rates for that term.

To compare mortgage rate offers in a way that includes the application and account fees costs (or break fee costs if you need to do that), and applying the impact of a cashback/legal fee reimbursement/ or other incentive, you can now use our new home loan comparison calculator. You can find it here. Or, for convenience, we have added it to the bottom of this article.

We sense that the ability to achieve meaningful discounts from carded rates is now much harder, so the impact of the incentives offered are currently playing an outsized role. 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 October 3, 2025	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
ANZ	4.89 -0.10	4.49 -0.26	4.59 -0.16	4.65 -0.10	4.89 -0.26	5.49 -0.10	5.49 -0.10
	4.95 -0.09	4.49 -0.26	4.49 -0.26	4.65 -0.10	4.94 -0.05	5.19 -0.10	5.39 -0.10
	4.99	4.49	4.75	4.75	4.95	5.09	5.39
	5.05	4.75		4.79	5.05	5.39	5.59
	4.99 -0.10	4.49 -0.26	4.49 -0.26	4.65 -0.10	4.85 -0.10	4.99 -0.10	4.99 -0.40
Bank of China	4.98	4.68	4.68	4.78	4.88	5.35	5.35
China Construction Bank	4.99	4.75	4.75	4.75	4.95	5.99	5.99
Co-operative Bank (*=FHB only)	4.99	4.39*	4.75	4.75	4.99	5.39	5.49
ICBC	5.09	4.55	4.79	4.89	4.99	5.35	5.39
(*=FHB only)	5.09	4.29*	4.75	4.75	4.99	5.39	5.39
	5.09	4.75	4.99	4.49	4.99	5.39	5.49