ANZ has adjusted its one-year home loan rate to match BNZ.
ANZ said the 26 basis point cut to 4.49% marked the lowest rate since May 2022.
It also announced cuts of 10 basis points to both its six-month fixed rate, now 4.89%, and its two-year fixed rate, now 4.65%.
“Since we started cutting rates in March last year, our 1-year home loan special rate has fallen by 2.9%,” ANZ general manager of home loans Emily Mendes Ribeiro said.
“For someone fixing their home loan at today’s rate, compared to fixing in March last year, that equates to around $10,000 of savings on repayments across a year on a home loan of $500,000.”
The Reserve Bank is scheduled to review the official cash rate next week, with weaker-than-expected gross domestic product data increasing calls for a 50 basis point cut.
Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr said the economic weakness requires stimulus.
“With all the risks offshore and the pain still felt onshore, there’s a good argument to be made for taking policy firmly into stimulatory territory ASAP. An argument that is growing in support.”
“It’s clear that our economy needs support. There’s simply no other way to put it: the Kiwi economy is underperforming. It’s underperforming our already weak forecasts. And it’s underperforming our peers around the world. It’s saddening to see an economy still contracting after last year’s deep and destructive recession. We fell into a hole then, and we’ve only dug ourselves deeper.”
“At 3% the cash rate is neutral.”
He said that a rate between 2.25% and 2.5% would be needed to stimulate activity again.