Mortgage watch: Banks still not budging
Yet another week and none of the banks have passed on the Reserve Bank's latest official cash rate (OCR) cut to customers on their floating mortgage rates, nearly three weeks after the event.
Wednesday, May 20th 2009, 1:33PM
by Jenny Ruth
While the four major banks have been taking much of the stick, the government's own Kiwibank has also been dragging its heels.
Kiwibank hasn't changed its floating rate since mid-February although the central bank has cut the OCR twice since then from 3.5% to 2.5%. However, at 5.99%, Kiwibank's rate is still the second lowest in the market behind only PSIS with its 5.75% rate.
The four major banks' rates remain between 6.4% and 6.49%.
The biggest mortgage rate changes in the last week were in the six-months fixed space with Kiwibank cutting its rate 34 basis points to 5.45% and AMP cutting its rate by 29 basis points to 5.5%. Kiwibank's six-month rate isn't the cheapest in the market, that honour going to Westpac with its 5.39% rate.
Four of the smaller lenders, including Kiwibank, also cut their one-year fixed rates by between 10 and 20 basis points but Westpac still has the lowest rate of 5.49% in that category too. Housing Corp actually raised its two-year fixed rate by 20 basis points to 6.2%.
The only other change was Housing Corp (whose floating rate is 6.3%) raising its three and five-year fixed rates by 25 basis points each to 6.75% and 7.5% respectively. Axa has the lowest two-year fixed rate of 5.9% and the lowest five-year rate at 6.5%, equal to its floating rates.
| « RBNZ defends OCR, disappointed with banks' response | Is it worth breaking your mortgage? » |
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