ASB increases home loan rates as wholesale interest rate rises bite, also raises term deposit rates but for few terms savers prefer

The rise and rise of wholesale money costs has brought another major bank home loan rate rise. This time it is ASB.

Its new rate card has been set near or at the upper end of the rates from the banks with the highest rates. (See the chart below).

Only ASB's fixed six month rate remains unchanged and matching most of their main rivals.

Its new one year rate now matches BNZ and Kiwibank.

But all other, longer fixed rates put them 10 basis points (bps) to 40 bps higher than the lowest other main banks, which presently are BNZ and Westpac.

At the same time, ASB has raised its term deposit rates. But like other banks before them, not for any terms that savers prefer. Their one year term deposit (TD) rate is now up to 3.75% (+5 bps). ASB is the one main bank with a 5% TD rate offer - for a five year term.

This review of how retail mortgage rates compare with recent wholesale rate changes might be useful, although it pre-dates today's ASB changes.

We should note that Australian benchmark rates are rising quickly now, and these will influence the trend of New Zealand wholesale rates. Inflation's new bogey is hard to avoid.

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 incentives, you can use our home loan comparison calculator. You can find it here. Or, for convenience, we have added it to the bottom of this article.

Negotiate, (even with your mortgage broker). How flexible banks may be will depend on the strength of your financials.

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

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.

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 April 29, 2026	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
ANZ	4.49	4.69	4.99	5.29	5.49	6.19	6.29
	4.49	4.65 +0.06	4.95 +0.10	5.25 +0.16	5.49 +0.10	5.69 +0.14	5.89 +0.20
	4.49	4.65	4.85	5.09	5.29	5.59	5.79
	4.49	4.65		5.29	5.55	5.89	5.99
	4.49	4.69	4.99	5.19	5.29	5.39	5.59
Bank of China	4.38	4.48	4.68	4.78	5.08	5.38	5.58
China Construction Bank	4.40	4.49	4.49	4.54	4.90	5.10	5.20
Co-operative Bank	4.59	4.65	4.99	5.29	5.49	5.75	5.89
ICBC	4.39	4.49	4.65	4.89	5.15	5.45	5.65
	4.49	4.59	4.85	5.09	5.29	5.55	5.69
	4.59	4.59 +0.10	5.09 +0.10	5.19 +0.10	5.49 +0.20	5.69 +0.14	5.79 +0.10