TSB has cut its one year fixed home loan rate to 5.99%, a -30 bps drop.
It is the lowest they have offered for that fixed term since December 2022.
And they are the first bank to offer a one year rate below 6% on their rate card.
Following the Wednesday OCR rate cut, almost all the action has been on floating rate changes, and almost all of them have mirrored the -50 bps OCR cut.
But wholesale money markets wobbled briefly over the past few days, but have settled back into easing swap rates.
Those wholesale markets are now pricing in a full -50 bps cut again at the November 14 Monetary Policy Review by the RBNZ. So there remains pressure on the cost of money, and fixed home loan rates are likely to keep falling while that pressure is there.
In real estate markets, despite all the gung-ho commentary by hopeful participants, there is still no sign that sales volumes are picking up above their normal seasonal patterns. In fact, if anything, they are undershooting. Our auction monitoring suggests that while more properties are being offered, fewer are actually selling.
And that is a problem for real estate markets because they rely on momentum as part of their general market pitch.
And it is a problem for banks, because new transactions are needed to meet their lending targets. They can't achieve those on refinance activity alone.
So competition is pointed at present. And to avoid queering the pitch, a lot of that is going on 'off-card'.
Those off-card rate offers are now below 6% for a couple of banks other than TSB already (ANZ and Kiwibank). We know that because customers with a home loan can see updated offers from their bank in their bank app. And these often offer significant discounts from the rate cards published.
So we have been asking readers to help shine a light on this opaque practice. Please note actual bank-app offers in the comment stream below and we will add them to our table. This should give borrowers a stronger view of where the mortgage rate market really is.
Almost all banks will have some flexibility in their rate offers. So the carded rates are just the start. Negotiate. How flexible they may be will depend on the strength of your financials.
One useful way to make sense of the changed home loan rates is to use our full-function mortgage calculator which is below. Term deposit rates can be assessed using this calculator.
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. But they become important in a falling market, like now. Don't forget, when you sign up for a fixed rate you are signing a contract. You have been given the right to break it in legislation but the bank has the right to reclaim its costs when you do so. This is NOT evidence of banks making it hard to switch (as some borrowers, and sadly some journalists seem to think).
Here is the updated snapshot of the lowest advertised fixed-term mortgage rates on offer from the key retail banks at the moment. (Be aware that the reader-reported rates are unofficial and may be quite fuzzy themselves.)
| Fixed, below 80% LVR | 6 mths | 1 yr | 18 mth | 2 yrs | 3 yrs | 4 yrs | 5 yrs |
| as at October 14, 2024 | % | % | % | % | % | % | % |
| ANZ | 6.75 | 6.19 | 5.89 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 6.19 | 6.19 |
| current reader-reported rates | 6.69 | 5.59 | 5.69 | 5.59 | |||
 |
6.75 | 6.19 | 5.89 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 5.69 |
| current reader-reported rates | 6.59 | 5.99 | 5.75 | 5.59 | 5.59 | 5.59 | 5.59 |
 |
6.75 | 6.19 | 5.89 | 5.79 | 5.79 | 5.69 | 5.69 |
| current reader-reported rates | 6.69 | 6.09 | 5.75 | 5.69 | 5.65 | 5.59 | |
 |
6.85 | 6.29 | 5.79 | 5.79 | 5.69 | 5.69 | |
| current reader-reported rates | 5.94 | 5.44 | |||||
 |
6.75 | 6.19 | 5.89 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 5.59 | 5.59 |
| current reader-reported rates | 6.75 | 6.19 | 5.89 | 5.69 | |||
| Bank of China | 6.75 | 6.25 | 5.95 | 5.75 | 5.75 | 5.65 | 5.65 |
| China Construction Bank | 6.89 | 6.45 | 5.99 | 5.99 | 5.89 | 6.40 | 6.40 |
| Co-operative Bank | 6.75 | 6.19 | 5.99 | 5.75 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 5.69 |
| Heartland Bank | 6.19 | 5.89 | 5.69 | 5.69 | |||
| ICBC | 6.69 | 6.15 | 5.85 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 5.69 |
 |
6.75 | 6.35 | 5.89 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 5.69 |
from October 14 |
6.75 -0.10 |
5.99 -0.30 |
5.99 -0.10 |
5.69 -0.10 |
5.69 -0.10 |
5.69 | 5.69 |
Fixed mortgage rates
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Daily swap rates
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