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.
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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.
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Westpac hikes 6-month fixed mortage rate
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