Westpac holds back some of the OCR cut, only drops their floating rate by 15 bps. Kiwibank first to pass on new lower floating rate, ANZ follows with full cut

Kiwibank was first out of the blocks following today's Reserve Bank -25 basis points Official Cash Rate cut.

They have cut their floating rate by -25 basis points to 5.90% from 6.15%.

This makes the new Kiwibank floating rate the lowest in the market. (See subsequent update from SBS Bank below.)

How long that will last will depend on competitor response.

ANZ has also announced a -25 bps cut to 5.99%.

And now we get news that Westpac has decided to pass on less than the full cut, dropping their floating rate by just -15 bps to 6.00%.

Update: SBS Bank has now trumped Kiwibank by cutting their rate by -25 basis points to 5.89%, now the market-low.

ASB has cut both its variable and Orbit home loan rates by -25 basis points to 6%. ASB's changes are effective from Wednesday, September 16 for new customers and not until Friday, September 25 for existing customers.

Meanwhile, the Co-operative Bank has cut its floating rate.

The Co-operative Bank has reduced its floating home loan rate by -25 basis points to 5.95%, and cut its two-year fixed home loan rate by -20 basis points to 4.59%. The new floating rate is effective from tomorrow, 11 September for new borrowers and Monday 28 September for existing customers. The fixed rate is also effective Friday.

(Specialist local Korean bank Kookmin has cut their floating rate to 6.65% with only a -15 bps cut.)

Wholesale rates have stopped falling but they are low enough to support these new low rate offers, and still allow borrowers to negotiate hard for below-card rates.

The mortgage market is all about haggling, especially if you have at least 20% equity in your property.

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

Almost all home loan competition is now back focused on the interest rate. Non-rate cash incentives are still there for some banks and while we thought they might disappear altogether, they haven't and they are still worth keeping an eye on. ASB however has removed its All Blacks $300 promotion. You can see see the current non-rate home loan incentives here.

The new floating and fixed mortgage rates compare as follows: (today's changes are marked *)

below 80% LVR	Floating	1 yr	18mth	2 yrs	3 yrs	5 yrs
		%	%	%	%	%
	5.99*	4.69	5.15	4.89	5.59	5.79
	6.00*	4.35	4.69	4.69	4.79	5.09
	5.89*	4.35		4.69	5.19	5.65
	5.90*	4.79		4.65	4.99	5.50
	6.00*	4.99	5.19	4.69	5.19	5.65
	5.95*	4.69	4.79	4.59*	4.99	5.59
	6.35	4.49		4.49	4.49	5.29
	5.89*	4.69	4.69	4.69	4.99	5.59
	5.99*	4.69	4.69	4.69	4.99	5.75