The second largest mortgage bank cuts home loan rates in response the largest lender's cuts late last week. But some are me-too, some not as good as their main rivals, one dips just -4 bps

The second largest mortgage lender - ASB, with a 21.2% market share (ANZ has 30.1% share) - has responded to the ANZ home loan rate cuts with some of its own.

But theri cuts are me-too, other than for the 18 month fixed rate, where at 4.45% they have dipped -4 bps below ANZ, BNZ and Westpac.

ASB's new six month rate matches Kiwibank but is still higher than ANZ's 4.79%.

ASB's new one year rate is still 4.49%, unchanged in this round and just matching all theri main rivals.

ASB's two year rate is down -16 bps to 4.49%, matching ANZ and Westpac.

For three years fixed, ASB also just matches ANZ at 4.79%, but that is near the market low at this time.

For four years, ASB is now matching BNZ.

But for five years, ASB's new 5.15% rate is still well above Westpac and still well above the market-leading offer of 4.95% from the Bank of China.

ASB has pushed out the boat very slightly at 18 months, tightening up its rate offers to close to the ANZ levels. That leaves BNZ and Kiwibank slightly exposed with their two year rates. We expect these two majors will move this week to correct that exposure.

ASB did not announce term deposit rates changes at the same time, but they are not shy with cuts to those, so we expect them separately.

The last time fixed rates were as low as they are now was in mid-April 2022. That was when they were moving up from earlier when rates started in the 3% range.

The RBNZ's loosened loan-to-value ratio restrictions will give banks a slightly larger playing field, but it may not be substantially larger. First home buyers who are ready to buy are already moving - they are doing more than a quarter of the mortgage transactions anyway. And it is doubtful banks will want to build their mortgage books with existing homeowners trying to raise their leverage by using their houses as an ATM. It is likely also that homeowners will stay motivated to pay down their mortgages faster than the scheduled repayments, as they have been doing for a long time now. Nothing focuses the mind in household budgeting if job security is a worry.

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 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 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 21, 2025	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
ANZ	4.79	4.49	4.49	4.49	4.79	5.39	5.39
	4.85 -0.10	4.49	4.45 -0.04	4.49 -0.16	4.79 -0.15	5.09 -0.10	5.15 -0.24
	4.89	4.49	4.49	4.65	4.85	5.09	5.39
	4.85	4.49		4.69	4.99	5.39	5.59
	4.99	4.49	4.49	4.49	4.85	4.99	4.99
Bank of China	4.68	4.28	4.38	4.58	4.78	4.95	4.95
China Construction Bank	4.85	4.49	4.49	4.65	4.85	4.99	4.99
Co-operative Bank (*=FHB only)	4.85	4.39*	4.49 -0.10	4.69	4.94	4.99 -0.20	5.39
ICBC	4.69	4.25	4.29	4.59	4.79	4.99	4.99
(*=FHB only)	4.99	3.99*	4.49	4.65	4.85	4.99	4.99
	4.99	4.49	4.75	4.49	4.89	5.19	5.39