Adrian Orr has spoken. Now the focus turns to the banks and the pass-through of the lower-interest-rate-stimulus benefit.
First out of the blocks is ASB.
They have cut their floating home loan rate by -50 basis points to 5.20%.
And they cut their two year fixed rate to 3.75%, a -4 bps reduction.
Other banks will follow and we will update this story with those changes as they come to hand.
Ahead of the announcement, wholesale swap rates were down -2 bps, taking the total drop from the last OCR cut to a massive -45 to -50 bps since the May 8 rate cut. In that time, the benchmark two year fixed mortgage rate has fallen from 3.99% to just 3.79% or -20 bps.
Here is our tracking of banks' floating mortgage rate charges, the main way the lower OCR will be reflected in our economy.
A second bank, Westpac, has now passed through 45 bps into their floating rate, but nothing for fixed rates.
Kiwibank has passed on the full -50 bps cut to its floating rate customers, but nothing for fixed rates.
BNZ has passed on the full -50 bps cut to its float rate customers too, and it has matched ASB with a -4 bps cut to its two year fixed rate.
And ANZ is the last of the majors to move, cutting the full -0.50 bps for their floating rate, but making no other changes.
See all banks' carded, or advertised, home loan rates here. They are being updated in our database as soon as we are advised.
| Floating | May rate | change | Prior rate | New rate | Change | effective from |
| % | % | % | % | for existing clients | ||
| OCR | 1.75 | -0.25 | 1.50 | 1.00 | -0.50 | August 7, 2019 |
| ANZ | 5.79 | -0.10 | 5.69 | 5.19 | -0.50 | August 26, 2019 |
 |
5.80 | -0.10 | 5.70 | 5.20 | -0.50 | August 21, 2019 |
 |
5.90 | -0.10 | 5.80 | 5.30 | -0.50 | ? |
 |
5.80 | -0.15 | 5.65 | 5.15 | -0.50 | August 26, 2019 |
 |
5.95 | -0.16 | 5.79 | 5.34 | -0.45 | August 26, 2019 |
 |
5.75 | -0.10 | 5.65 | 5.15 | -0.50 | August 27, 2019 |
| China Construction Bank | 5.80 | -0.30 | 5.50 | |||
| ICBC | 5.79 | -0.14 | 5.65 | |||
 |
5.89 | -0.10 | 5.79 | |||
 |
5.89 | -0.10 | 5.79 | 5.29 | -0.50 | September 13, 2019 |
 |
5.80 | -0.11 | 5.69 |
Floating rates are not so important for residential mortgage borrowers (most have a fixed rate contract), but they are important for rural lending and other SME loans.
ASB hasn't changed term deposit rates either.
It will be interesting to watch fixed home loan rates to see if any cut flows to these mortgages. After all, 90% of home loans are on a fixed contract.
Here is the full snapshot of the advertised fixed-term rates on offer from the key retail banks.
| Fixed, below 80% LVR | 6 mths | 1 yr | 18 mth | 2 yrs | 3 yrs | 4 yrs | 5 yrs |
| as at August 7, 2019 | % | % | % | % | % | % | % |
| ANZ | 4.49 | 3.85 | 4.19 | 3.79 | 4.05 | 4.85 | 4.95 |
|
4.49 | 3.85 | 3.89 | 3.75
|
4.05 | 4.35 | 4.45 |
|
4.99 | 3.85 | 4.79 | 3.75
|
4.05 | 4.35 | 4.45 |
|
4.79 | 3.79 | 3.79 | 3.99 | 4.29 | 4.39 | |
|
4.99 | 3.85 | 4.79 | 3.79 | 4.05 | 4.35 | 4.45 |
| Co-operative Bank | 3.79 | 3.79 | 3.79 | 3.84 | 3.99 | 4.29 | 4.39 |
| China Construction Bank | 4.70 | 4.85 | 3.65 | 3.90 | 4.95 | 4.95 | |
| ICBC | 4.85 | 3.85 | 3.99 | 3.95 | 3.89 | 4.29 | 4.39 |
|
4.85 | 3.79 | 3.79 | 3.79 | 3.89 | 4.19 | 4.29 |
|
4.99 | 3.78 | 3.78 | 3.78 | 3.99 | 4.49 | 4.49 |
| Incl price match promise |
4.85 | 3.85 | 3.99 | 3.79 | 4.05 | 4.35 | 4.45 |
In addition to the above table, BNZ has a fixed seven year rate of 5.95%.
All carded, or advertised, term deposit rates for all financial institutions for terms of less than one year are here, and for terms of one-to-five years are here. And term PIE rates are here.
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