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Two banks cut selected fixed mortgage rates for residential borrowers, one of which takes a rate back down under 4%

Personal Finance
Two banks cut selected fixed mortgage rates for residential borrowers, one of which takes a rate back down under 4%

Kiwibank has reprised its 3.99% home loan rate for a two year fixed term.

That represents a -20 bps drop.

The last time Kiwibank offered a sub 4% rate was in mid January 2019, and offer that lasted until the first week of February.

This initiative comes after Westpac ended its 3.99% one-year-fixed offer last week.

At the same time TSB has extended its rate match offer. And it has widened the coverage to all terms offered by ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac.

That now means that it will match Westpac's eighteen month 4.09% rate because it is lower than TSB's own carded 'special'.

None of these recent changes go anywhere near to challenging the new low rates being offered by HSBC Premier. But HSBC Premier rates come with some relatively high qualification requirements.

Since the beginning of February, wholesale swap rates have moved little at the short end of one and two year durations. The one year swap rate is down only -6 bps and a similar fall has occurred for two years. Since the beginning of 2019 the fall is -12 bps. Since the beginning of March there has been no change.

And the main cost driver for banks is their cost of deposit funds. While these have slipped minorly at a handful of banks (about -5 bps) for most, these haven't moved at all. Given that more than 70% of bank funding is based on retail deposits, this doesn't support lower costs and therefore lower mortgage rates.

See all banks' carded, or advertised, home loan interest rates here.

Here is the full snapshot of the advertised fixed-term rates on offer from the key retail banks.

below 80% LVR 6 mths  1 yr  18 mth  2 yrs   3 yrs  4 yrs  5 yrs 
as at March 18, 2019 % % % % % % %
               
ANZ 4.99 4.05 4.19 4.29 4.49 5.55 5.69
ASB 4.95 4.05 4.19 4.29 4.49 4.95 5.09
4.99 4.05 4.79 4.29 4.49 5.19 5.39
Kiwibank 4.99 4.05   3.99
4.49 4.99 5.09
Westpac 4.99 4.05 4.09 4.29 4.59 5.29 5.49
               
4.05 4.05 4.29 4.29 4.49 4.89 4.99
HSBC 4.85 3.99 3.99 3.69 4.39 4.89 4.95
HSBC 4.99 4.05 4.25 4.29 4.49 4.99 5.09
4.85 4.05 4.09
4.25 4.49 4.95 4.99

In addition to the above table, BNZ has a fixed seven year rate of 5.95%.

Fixed mortgage rates

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4 Comments

If / When the RBNZ introduces new capital requirement ratios, do you think the implementation will start on April 1st 2020 or after they pass the legislation?

I see this as having the biggest impact on possible mortgage rate hikes and so i am wondering on timing...

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any one who values 'money' would like to have an increase in its price - which is the interest rate. But the debt level is so high that cash has to be seen cheap :-( . I think the upward pressure of interest rates following capital ratio requirement will somewhat be nullified by an OCR drop.

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I think they'll need to introduce it sooner than later. Certainly the Ozzy banks have had a free ride up till now.

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: )

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