HSBC undercuts market on 6-month mortgage rate
Premier customers offered a six-month home loan rate of 4.85%.
HSBC says it is offering the lowest fixed-term rate in the market – 4.85% for a six-month term.
The offer is for HSBC premier customers, who have either a minimum combined home loan of $500,000 or $100,000 in savings and investments.
And it is offering up to $1000 in legal contributions to help new customers with conveyancing costs.
HSBC’s head of retail banking and wealth management John Barclay says the bank can offer the low rate while the Reserve Bank of New Zealand continues to keep the Official Cash Rate low.
The OCR, which influences the rates banks set for mortgages, is widely expected by economists to remain at 2.5% until the end of next year at least.
Among the major banks, the closest match to HSBC’s six-month fixed-rate offer is Kiwibank offering 5.25% and ASB at 5.45%.
Smaller banks SBS and HBS are offering 4.99%.
Westpac’s four- and five-year home loan rates remain the best in the market after they were slashed to 5.99% last week – the lowest rate in more than a decade.
Data in the Reserve Bank’s latest monetary policy statement reveals there has been a dramatic shift away towards floating rates since the end of 2008.
And that has accelerated again in the last few months.
The proportion of mortgages on floating rates peaked in April at 63.1% of all mortgages and has since fallen away to 58.7%.
Georgina Bond
Tue, 25 Sep 2012
Tue, 25 Sep 2012
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HSBC undercuts market on 6-month mortgage rate
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