After a pause, ASB moves to update both its home loan and term deposit rates. They're now more closely aligned with main rivals' rates

ASB is lowering some fixed home loan rates and raising others, while also tweaking some term deposit rates.

The ASB moves basically align their new rate cards with the bank's main rivals without setting any market-leading rates.

Unchanged are ASB's six month and one year fixed mortgage rates, which are already in sync with ANZ NZ's. But these two still offer a clear 20 basis points advantage for a one year rate over their big bank rivals.

Wholesale swap rates jumped in the early part of September, and while they have shifted around since, those subsequent moves have not been significant at the short end of the rate curve. Certainly not enough for the main banks to respond with higher rates than they already had.

One reason for this maybe that competitive pressures are very strong in a market that is exhibiting lower than expected volumes, so banks are competing now in a zero-sum environment.

The recent Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rate hike hasn't really had much of an impact on New Zealand rates. Money markets are pricing in only a 30% chance of another RBA rise at their next  meeting on November 3. But interestingly, these same markets are pricing in a 60% chance of an October 28 rate hike by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, something economists are currently discounting given it is just a few days before the election.

You can still get lower rates from the challenger banks, especially the Chinese owned ones. And banks like the SBS 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 October 8, 2026	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
	4.79	4.99	5.29 -0.16	5.35 -0.14	5.59	6.39	6.49
	4.79	4.99	5.29 -0.06	5.35 -0.10	5.59 +0.14	5.65 60.16	5.75 +0.16
	4.89	5.19	5.29	5.35	5.59	5.65	5.75
Kiwibank	4.85	5.15		5.39	5.59	5.79	5.89
	4.89	5.19	5.45	5.29	5.59	5.65	5.75
Bank of China	4.58	4.68	4.83	5.08	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	4.89	5.19	5.35	5.49	5.69	5.89	5.99
ICBC	4.55	4.65	4.85	4.99	4.99	5.45	5.65
	4.85	5.19	5.29	5.29	5.59	5.65	5.75
	4.89	5.19	5.45	5.39	5.69	5.89	5.99