Westpac hikes 6-month fixed mortage rate
Westpac is the second major bank to hike home loan rates after last week's official cash rate review.
Westpac is the second major bank to hike home loan rates after last week’s official cash rate (OCR) review – raising its six-month fixed-term and one year capped mortgage rates today.
Westpac’s six-month fixed-term home loan rate is now 26 basis points higher at 5.85% and the one-year capped rate has been lifted 25 basis points to 6.75%.
Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard left the OCR unchanged at 2..5% last week.
But he gave strong indication hikes were not far off – possibly at the September 15 review – which means banks could be looking to hike long-term rates sooner rather than later.
Kiwibank was the first of the major banks to move, with a 25 basis point hike on the limit of its capped variable mortgage rate – now 6.5% - on Friday.
Westpac’s six-month fixed home loan rate now matches those offered by ASB and BNZ. National Bank and ANZ are lower on 5.99%.
At the moment, 44% of the country’s mortgages are on fixed-term rates.
Georgina Bond
Tue, 02 Aug 2011
Tue, 02 Aug 2011
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Westpac hikes 6-month fixed mortage rate
16152