As we all wait to see what’s going to happen with our next Official Cash Rate (OCR) announcement—and last for the year—on 26 November, interest rates have been in a bit of a holding pattern over the last few days.
The best one-year rate out there is still with TSB at 4.39%, while all the main banks are hovering slightly above that at 4.49%.
Longer-term rates are also tracking much the same as they have been in recent weeks, ranging from 4.43% for 18 months through to 4.99% for the five-year term.
In terms of predictions for next week’s OCR verdict, the market is broadly anticipating another 0.25% reduction, taking us down to 2.25% as we head into the end of the year.
Beyond interest rates, the big news in the mortgages landscape this week has been around cashbacks, with competition starting to heat up amongst the banks as they vie for new business.
ANZ brought out a special deal earlier this week, offering a 1.5% cashback on any loan, up to a maximum of $30,000 ($2 million loan size)—and a number of the other main banks are now matching that offer.
In order to be eligible with ANZ, borrowers need to have their loan approved and documented before 16 December.
For anyone refixing or settling on a new loan soon, the recommendation would be to just hold off until after our next OCR announcement.
If we get the outcome the market is expecting, that should create a bit of for some of those shorter-term rates to come down a little further, which means you could get a slightly better deal by waiting it out for a week or two.
Any further rate falls aren’t expected to be too significant—given how hard the banks are playing in the cashback space—but it’s possible we could see the one-year rate (for example) get down to just below 4.40%.
__Check back in against next week for the latest news on New Zealand interest rates. __
