ANZ has followed BNZ and Westpac in ditching their sub-4% mortgage rate offer.
ANZ had a 3.95% rate offer for a one year fixed term and that has now been replaced with a +10 bps higher rate of 4.05%, still a 'special'.
But this has been balanced by two other changes.
First, it has added a new 18 month 'special', pitching it at 4.19% which interestingly is the best bank rate for this term other than HSBC's 3.85% rate (and matching TSB's similar offer).
And secondly, they have extended their cashback incentive out to Thursday, December 20, 2018. This is an up to $3,000 enticement for loans of $200,000 or more, conditional on you maintaining all you banking and home borrowing with ANZ for three years. It's a payment for your exclusivity.
Earlier in the day, BNZ and Westpac also raised sub-4% rates to above that threshhhold. That leaves HSBC, ASB, SBS Bank and TSB as the remaining banks with sub-4% offers still available.
These changes come even though wholesale swap rates for one year have been stable for 5 months, and two year swap rate has fallen -10 bps in the past month (although today's level is +10 bps above the general level over the past four months).
Retail term deposit rates, the main source of bank funding, aren't moving either. (Although BNZ did take the opportunity today to reduce its RapidSaver bonus saver product by -10 bps.)
These changes are probably a signal that the imperative to be in the market with low rates is lower as the Spring house selling season draws to a close. And the great bulk of the loan rollover end-of-year surge has now passed, so the pressure from that source has lessened too.
The main feature of the competitive rate profile is how bunched the main banks are around the same rate especially for some key terms. A few challenger banks are trying to find pricing points that give them a profile difference, but the main banks are clearly trying to avoid advertised carded rate competition, preferring to respond to customers only when pressed on individual deals.
The latest margin data shows this remains stable, with BNZ and Westpac having the lowest net interest margin of 2.1%, ANZ and Kiwibank stable at 2.2% and ASB the highest at 2.3%. The net interest margin measures the difference between the interest earned from customers, less the interest rate banks paid to depositors and lenders, as a percentage of average interest-earning assets.
See all banks' carded, or advertised, home loan interest rates here.
Here is the full snapshot of the 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 November 30, 2018 | % | % | % | % | % | % | % |
| ANZ | 4.99 | 4.05
|
4.19
|
4.29 | 4.49 | 5.55 | 5.69 |
 |
4.95 | 3.95 | 4.29 | 4.29 | 4.49 | 4.95 | 5.09 |
 |
4.99 | 4.10
|
4.79 | 4.29
|
4.49 | 5.19 | 5.39 |
 |
4.99 | 4.05 | 4.29 | 4.49 | 4.99 | 5.09 | |
 |
4.99 | 4.15
|
4.79
|
4.29 | 4.59
|
5.29 | 5.49
|
 |
4.10
|
4.10 | 4.29 | 4.35 | 4.49 | 4.99 | 5.15 |
 |
4.85 | 3.79 | 3.85 | 4.19 | 4.69 | 4.99 | 5.29 |
 |
4.99 | 4.19 | 4.49 | 3.95 | 4.49 | 4.89 | 4.89 |
 |
4.85 | 3.95 | 4.19 | 4.19 | 4.49 | 4.95 | 4.99 |
In addition to the above table, BNZ has a fixed seven year rate of 5.95%.
And TSB still has a 10-year fixed rate of 6.20%.
Fixed mortgage rates
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15 Comments
Well the Ozzy banks need to get their revenue from some where.
Guardian new article: Sydney house prices have biggest monthly fall for 14 years and Melbourne close behind
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/30/sydney-house-pri…
A little suggestion.
Perhaps the rush to take on the lower mortgages came from the already heavily indebted - reducing margins on existing money creation. Not ideal for profits..... rather than the desired outcome of increasing new debt in the system. As the Guvnor said - 'The fate of the housing market depends on those who want 'to step' up and borrow!'
Yep happy to concede that one Yvil
I had no idea the extent of the issue until recently. I believe the latest teaser was to try and tempt new borrowers but that all the banks have done in the last few weeks is reduce their margins on existing debtors without being able to encourage enough new lending to make it worth while.
We may be approaching the point that we are caught between the devil and the deep blue Sea. Adrian Orr understands the risks he even asked people to 'step up and borrow' the other day.
That's all we've got Yvil keeping the economy going, we need more debt issuance and fast! But I don't see that there is the appetite for it even at low rates.
We will be in recession so fast you will not have time to pull your pants up if a sudden "Event" causes an interest rate hike, even a small one with whispers of more hikes on the way. Its a volatile market, almost anything is possible and yet 2019 could be as boring as 2018. The best advice is just keep smashing that debt while the current rates are so low.
I work in a bank that was offering sub 4% rate, and can confirm that we received a massive increase in activity from customers wanting to refix, and very little new deals. The trouble with short term deals is that unless a customer already has an approval in place it is often difficult to get approval, find a property, put in their offer, have the offer accepted and then go unconditional within 1 month before the rate special expired.
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