Short-term interest rates and floating rate mortgages are likely to continue falling this year as the Reserve Bank continues to cut its Official Cash Rate (OCR), but longer-term fixed rate mortgages are more likely to rise, says Anthony Byett, chief economist at ASB Bank.
Friday, May 2nd 2003, 8:48AM
by The Landlord
ASB Bank’s five-year fixed rate mortgage hit its lowest level in March at 6.95% since it introduced it in the mid-1990s. Then, in the wholesale market the five-year swap rate was about 5.8%. Last week after the central bank cut the OCR, the five-year swap rate again fell below 6%, but Byett says that’s unlikely to last.
