Three of the country's major banks have followed Kiwibank's lead in reducing two-year home loan rates.Kiwibank's lead in cutting two-year fixed home loan rate has been matched by three of the major banks.Westpac, National and ANZ have all reduced their tw
Three of the country's major banks have followed Kiwibank's lead in reducing two-year home loan rates.
Kiwibank's lead in cutting two-year fixed home loan rate has been matched by three of the major banks.
Westpac, National and ANZ have all reduced their two-year rates by at least 20 basis points to 7% or just below.
ANZ and National have also reduced their three, four and five-year rates. ANZ's five-year rate is now the lowest in the market at 7.75%
Kiwibank undercut its rivals yesterday in lowering its two-year fixed home loan rate from 7.30% p.a. to 6.99%.
Outgoing chief executive at the state-owned bank Sam Knowles said the rate cut was to provide longer-term certainty to customers who were concerned about interest rate volatility.
HSBC has adjusted its rates in the opposite direction, lifting its standard two-year rate from 6.49% to 6.74% - still the lowest in the market.
The market range for two-year rates now range between 6.74% to 7.4%
Most of the major banks have adjusted interest rates since the Reserve Bank raised the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75% a fortnight ago – the first rise in the OCR since July 2007.
Most of the changes so far have affected floating rates and six-month and one-year fixed rates.
