Two major banks have announced decreases to their fixed home loan rates.
The move comes after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand last week announced the official cash rate will remain at 5.5% – banks are now predicting a cut in the OCR later this year following this week's drop in inflation.
Stats NZ figures show a 3.3% rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the 12 months to the June quarter. Its target band for inflation is 1 to 3%.
BNZ and Kiwibank are the latest banks to move rates – Bank of China, Heartland Bank, Westpac, ANZ and the Co-operative Bank have all made changes recently.
BNZ today said it was lowering its six-month and 18-month, and one, two, three, four and five-year fixed loans, for both those with and without 20% equity.
A one-year loan for those with 20% equity was moving from 7.14% to 6.85%, while a two-year loan moved from 6.79% to 6.49%.
Today's move follows falls to the BNZ's term deposit rates yesterday.
BNZ's changes are effective from today.
Kiwibank follows suit
Shortly after BNZ announced its changes, Kiwibank released its own new rates, effective from Monday.
Kiwibank's changes mirror BNZ's, also lowering its six-month and one, two, three, four and five-year fixed loans for both those with and without 20% equity.
It's one-year rate for those with 20% deposit dropped from 6.99% to 6.85%, and its two-year rate went from 6.79% to 6.49%.
Kiwibank's term deposit rates are set to drop from Monday as well.
The rates will be lowered for all term deposits above $5000, from six months to five years.
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