Kiwibank follows Aussie-owned rivals, increasing some key fixed home loan rates, and matching this with some term deposit rate increases. But no new rates are market leading

Kiwibank is following its big Aussie-owned rivals, shifting some key fixed home loan rates higher, and matching this with some term deposit rate increases. But although no new Kiwibank rates are market leading, some remain lower than their major rivals.

Kiwibank follows Westpac, ANZ, BNZ and ASB who have all moved over the past 10 days.

Notable, however, is none of these big five banks have staked out a rate-competitive position with these shifts. It is only about 'recovering' wholesale money market costs.

Kiwibank now has a six month fixed rate 6 basis points (bps) higher than Westpac.

Kiwibank now has a one year fixed rate 4 bps lower than any of the big four banks.

Kiwibank now has a fixed two year rate 6 bps lower than most big four banks.

Kiwibank now has a three year fixed rate 6 bps higher than Westpac, which is the lowest of this group for this term.

At the same time, Kiwibank has raised some term deposit rates, including for some of the most popular terms. They have raised their six month term deposit (TD) rate by 5 bps to 3.50%. Their nine month rate is up 15 bps to 3.70%. And the only other TD rate they raise is for two years, which also rose 15 bps to 4.30%.

These TD rate changes position Kiwibank's offers equal to or lower than their main rivals for equivalent terms. It is a defensive move aimed at not losing deposit flows, rather than growing them.

Globally, the benchmark interest rates have settled in at the new higher level, but the rising impulse has vanished in the past few days.

You can still get lower rates from the challenger banks, especially the Chinese ones. And banks like the SBS Bank and TSB are not so directly affected by swap rate shifts. Their cost of funds are more influenced by what they pay depositors. So for them, the reaction of their deposit base will play a key role in how they set home loan rates.

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 August 10, 2026	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
	4.79	4.99	5.45	5.49	5.59	6.39	6.49
	4.79	4.99	5.35	5.45	5.45	5.49	5.59
	4.79	4.99	5.29	5.45	5.45	5.45	5.49
Kiwibank	4.75 +0.10	4.95 +0.20		5.39 +0.20	5.49 +0.10	5.59	5.69
	4.69	4.99	5.35	5.45	5.35	5.39	5.49
Bank of China	4.38	4.58	4.68	4.88	5.18	5.48	5.68
China Construction Bank	4.35	4.49	4.49	4.64	4.90	5.10	5.20
Co-operative Bank	4.79	4.94	5.35	5.45	5.69	5.89	5.99
ICBC	4.39	4.49	4.75	4.99	5.25	5.45	5.65
	4.69	4.79	5.09	5.29	5.29	5.39	5.49
	4.69	4.79	5.19	5.25	5.59	5.89	5.99