Results: RBNZ
Interest rate rises to continue this year
Welcome to my first fortnightly column on mortgage rate levels and prospects in New Zealand. At the start of 2022 we can see that ...
2022 will bring more mortgage rate increases
We started 2021 with the average one year fixed mortgage rate at 2.49%, the three year rate at 2.65%, and the five year rate 2.99%...
Guest post: Residential home loans: fix or float?
In this article, John Bolton, CEO of Squirrel Mortgages looks at how to pick the right fixed home loan rate term in a rising inter...
Interest rates on an upward march
The long-awaited monetary policy tightening cycle has now kicked off in New Zealand as the need for record low interest rates to combat feared effects of Covid-19 has disappeared, and the need to fight rising inflation has soared.
Rising inflation risks
The Reserve Bank delivered some good and bad news for borrowers last week. In the wake of the latest lockdown, interest rates will only rise slowly. The bad news is last time they raised them slowly, they peaked higher than if they had moved quickly.
Strong growth is a key factor driving higher interest rates
The bounceback in economic activity in New Zealand since the first nationwide lockdown last year has been so strong that the unemployment rate has fallen back to the 4% level it was at when we entered that March – May lockdown.
Rate rises delayed but with upside risk
Borrowers could reasonably expect higher rates at their peaks, but not necessarily a faster speed of increase. Our central bank has an established long-term record of too often tightening monetary policy too slowly.
