Banks are now super-sensitive to customer reactions when they have what is perceived as an uncompetitive mortgage rate card, and are moving quickly to hold their positions

They are small, but worth noting all the same. BNZ has tweaked its carded home loan rates lower, matching the Kiwibank reductions on Tuesday.

BNZ has now matched Kiwibank's 5.55% one year rate with a minor -4 bps tweak.

And they have brought their fixed 3, 4, and five year carded rates into line with their main rivals with a -10 bps reduction for each.

Wholesale rates have been easing slightly this week in line with global moves, but these shifts are not major and unlikely to be the basis of retail carded rate reductions.

The reader-reported mortgage rates are fluid and may be less frequent now, so please record them, if you have them. We need you to record them in the comment section below, which helps us stay on top of this fast-changing corner of the home loan rates market.

And still negotiate. How flexible they may be will depend on the strength of your financials.

One indication of how competitive the current mortgage market is came yesterday in RBNZ-released data for December, where a near-record level of bank switching in home loan activity was revealed. It seems that banks are much more vulnerable to customer migration, and rate pressures (and a slow reaction to that) can have a sharp effect. We won't know who are the winners and who are the losers from this elevated switching until the next release of the RBNZ Dashboard mif February.

One useful way to make sense of the changed home loan rates is to use our full-function mortgage calculator which is below.

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.

Here is the updated snapshot of the lowest advertised fixed-term mortgage rates on offer from the key retail banks at the moment. 

Fixed, below 80% LVR	6 mths	1 yr	18 mth	2 yrs	3 yrs	4 yrs	5 yrs
as at January 30 2025	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
ANZ	5.99	5.57	5.39	5.44	5.59	6.19	6.19
current reader-reported rates
	5.99	5.59	5.39	5.49	5.59	5.79	5.79
current reader-reported rates
	5.99	5.55 -0.04	5.39	5.29	5.59 -0.10	5.69 -0.10	5.79 -0.10
current reader-reported rates
	5.99	5.55		5.45	5.69	5.79	5.89
current reader-reported rates
	5.99	5.79	5.69	5.49	5.59	5.59	5.59
current reader-reported rates
Bank of China	5.95	5.55	5.35	5.39	5.49	5.49	5.49
China Construction Bank	6.24	5.79	5.59	5.59	5.59	6.40	6.40
Co-operative Bank (*=FHB only)	5.99	5.49*	5.49	5.49	5.69	5.79	5.79
Heartland Bank		5.49	5.39	5.39	5.45
ICBC	5.99	5.79	5.59	5.59	5.59	5.59	5.59
	6.09	5.79	5.49	5.49	5.59	5.79	5.79
	5.99	5.59	5.59	5.45	5.59	5.79	5.89