NZ mortgage payments to drop by $3b in the next year: Macquarie

“While not a game changer, it is a notable positive for the NZ consumer and the broader macro outlook,” Macquarie said.

The research house said that after a trip here it thinks the New Zealand economic recovery “is clearly lagging expectations” and that the mantra has changed from “survive til 25” into “it’ll be fixed in 26.”

“While we came away confident of a recovery, we felt the timing remains uncertain given cautious consumers.”

The Reserve Bank has cut its official cash rate by 225 basis points to 3.75% since August last year but only about 45bp of that has fed into mortgage rates, Macquarie said.