New Zealand interest rates coming down.
Filed under: Cost of living, Economics, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
Last week the Reserve bank held the base rate steady – and this week, some of the main banks have cut thier mortgage rates. It means that Fixed Rates are coming down towards the floating rates – though the long term fixed rates are still way too high for me! Im using ASB rates for ease – but Westpac and Kiwibank have also dropped the rates.
As at 12:25:54 p.m., Thursday 15 September 2011
- Housing Variable 5.75 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (6 Month) 5.85 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (12 Month) 5.90 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (18 Month) 6.10 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (24 Month) 6.30 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (36 Month) 6.70 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (48 Month) 7.05 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (60 Month) 7.40 % p.a.
- ORBIT Home Loan 5.75 % p.a.
As at 09:47:18 a.m., Wednesday 2 November 2011
- Housing Variable 5.75 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (6 Month) 5.75 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (12 Month) 5.80 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (18 Month) 5.80 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (24 Month) 6.00 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (36 Month) 6.30 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (48 Month) 6.70 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (60 Month) 7.10 % p.a.
- ORBIT Home Loan 5.75 % p.a.
For New Zealand – these are REALLY low rates – but still way higher than you may be used to.
Today’s good news – interest rates aren’t going up!
Filed under: Banks, Cost of living, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
The reserve bank have done what all the economists said they would do and held the base rate. Well at least they said that this month – last year they swore blind it would be different and rates would be climbing by now. Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a job where you could be wrong so often?
By the evening, Kiwibank had dropped its rates – which means there’s a fair chance that the other banks will follow and our mortgages will drop a little.
Kiwibank have actually brought their 6 month and 1 year rates in line with the floating rates.
I await ASB’s rate drops eagerly.
New Zealand Interest Rate changes
Filed under: Banks, Economics, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
The reserve bank has held our base interest rate – and now it seems most of the “experts” how claimed the rate would be rising by the end of this year have changed their minds and now claim it will be march next year.
Apparently they will have to go but then some say they shouldn’t. Some say they should stay the same.
Helpful.
Interesting, I checked the ASB home loan interest rates – and they have gone down recently:
As at 01:33:46 a.m., Thursday 4 August 2011
- Housing Variable 5.75 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (6 Month) 5.85 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (12 Month) 6.15 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (18 Month) 6.40 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (24 Month) 6.65 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (36 Month) 6.95 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (48 Month) 7.35 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (60 Month) 7.75 % p.a.
- ORBIT Home Loan 5.75 % p.a.
As at 12:25:54 p.m., Thursday 15 September 2011
- Housing Variable 5.75 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (6 Month) 5.85 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (12 Month) 5.90 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (18 Month) 6.10 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (24 Month) 6.30 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (36 Month) 6.70 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (48 Month) 7.05 % p.a.
- Housing Fixed (60 Month) 7.40 % p.a.
- ORBIT Home Loan 5.75 % p.a.
I’m still not fixing from my flexible rates.
Christmas pressie from the Reserve Bank
Filed under: Cost of living, Economics, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ, Property & General Investing
Alan Bollard (bless his little cotton socks) has decided that the base interest rate in New Zealand is not going up this month.
“Interest rates are now projected to rise to a more limited extent over the next two years than signalled in September.
Oh Yay! Just in time for my investment mortgages to come off their fixed rates – and there was me thinking that I might have a snowballs chance in hell of reducing my mortgage payments.
Of course the reason for the hold is becuase no one has any money to spend, so the economy isn’t taking off as well as it should. I’m not sure where anyone expects us to get money to spend from right now – prices are still going up and wages aren’t. And to be honest, even if I had any money – what he’s saying is that If I spend it and “help the economy” hes going to put my interest rates up as a result.
Does this make any sense to anyone?
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NZ interests rate holds at 3%
Filed under: Cost of living, Economics, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
Alan Bollard (bless his little cotton socks), has held the official cash rate at 3% this morning. There are reasons for this – which basically comes down to we aren’t spending enough, so he has to keep it low. If we were spending he’s have to put it up to stop us.
Well, I’m doing my bit right now to ensure it doesn’t go up!
Overall, continued economic growth was expected to gradually absorb current surplus capacity over the next few years, Dr Bollard said.
Headline inflation was expected to move higher following the recent increase in the rate of GST.
The subdued state of domestic demand suggested this inflation spike would have limited impact on medium-term inflation expectations.
Translated as:
I can hear you talking but all I hear is “Blah Blah Blah”
If this is going to affect mortgage rates, we wont see it for a day or so, but I happened to be checking last week, and compared to a year ago, ASB’s rates are down quite nicely for longer term loans, but up for floating or short term loans. Still way too sodding expensive in my opinion – but ho hum.
As at 05:14:15 p.m., Sunday 20 December 2009
Housing Variable 5.75 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (6 Month) 6.00 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (12 Month) 6.25 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (18 Month) 6.75 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (24 Month) 7.25 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (36 Month) 8.00 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (48 Month) 8.50 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (60 Month) 8.75 % p.a.
ORBIT Home Loan 5.75 % p.a.
As at 09:27:19 a.m., Tuesday 19 October 2010
Housing Variable 6.25 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (6 Month) 6.35 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (12 Month) 6.45 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (18 Month) 6.60 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (24 Month) 6.70 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (36 Month) 7.10 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (48 Month) 7.45 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (60 Month) 7.75 % p.a.
ORBIT Home Loan 6.25 % p.a.
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Reprieve on interest rate rises.
Filed under: Banks, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
Alan Bollard (Bless his little cotton socks) has held off putting interest rates up again, so we all get a bit of a break in the finances. Which means we might actually get some benefit from the fact that the Income Tax rates go down next month.
While I’m hugely happy about this – it needs to be noted that the reason we are getting this break is not so good – it’s because of the Canterbury Earthquake, and the effect it will have on the economy.
And because I’m actually on the ball today for a change – I actually went to have a quick look at the exchange rate – which improved (comparatively at least) quite a lot. You can see it shoot up as the Hold is announced. So if you want to bring £ over to $ – you also need to pray that Mr Bollard doesn’t screw us all over with any more increases.
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What’s happening with NZ interest rates?
Filed under: Banks, Cost of living, Economics, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
Well, the short version is: they are going up!
The longer version is that it looks like we are the only sodding country whose central bank seems to want to increase base interest rates!
If you pop onto the HiFX website, they keep a running sidebar of Base interest rate announcements around the world. Not only do we still seem to have nearly the highest rates (other than Australia lol) but ours is going up when the others are holding.
Incidentally, thats also the page that tells you how bad the exchange rate is right now. Sorry.
There is some sort of good news in the papers today, it seems that Bollard – the governor of the Reserve Bank, may actually be stopping with these silly rises, because – guess what – the economy isn’t actually picking up as well as it needs to (well Helloooo! My Mortgage is getting more expensive – where the hell do you think Ive got any money to go out and buy stuff with!). And apparently – the employment figures here were supposed to improve , and they actually worsened. Now, Mr Bollard hasn’t actually said himself that he wont be raising interest rates – the “economists” have said that they think the chance is now 25% instead of 75% that he will raise them. But that’s the way it works – economists blather on for weeks before an announcement is due, telling us what the Governor is going to say, which always makes me wonder why the governor bothers with the announcements in the first place.
Theres a wonderfully obtuse piece of prose in the article which I just had to share:
“If the economy pushes along at near-potential rates of growth, the cash rate must head back towards neutral. Neutral is not 3 per cent,” said BNZ head of research Stephen Topliss.
I have absolutely no idea what the hell that means lol. What on earth is a “near-potential rate of growth”?
So what’s the bottom line?
Well, mortgages are more expensive. Floating rates are around the 6.15% – 6.75% range, up from about 5.5%. 2 years rates are around 6.75% and 5 year rates are around 7.75% for standard mortgages. The 5 year rates seem to be fairly steady at the moment, but the floating and 2 year rates have increased with the 2 rate rises.
Even if Mr Bollard doesn’t increase the OCR on the 16th September – I would be looking at factoring in some more rises if you are looking at needing to buy a home in New Zealand in the near future. He still seems intent of costing us a small fortune in interest and refusing to let us get ahead financially.
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And interest rates went up.
Filed under: Banks, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
Mr Bollard did as he was told by almost everyone that he would do and put the base rate in New Zealand up to 2.75%
I wait with baited breath to see what the banks do and how much is going to cost us all. Honestly – I do!
I thought it was worth sharing some gems from the article on stuff though – because its the kind of thing that is said so often, makes no sense, and doesn’t get challenged:
“With the domestic recovery on track, we expect the RBNZ will continue to hike the OCR steadily in 25 basis point moves at each meeting, barring a substantial deterioration in New Zealand funding costs as a result of the European soverign (sic) debt crisis.”
Um Ok, my mortgage has to go up becuase of something of that happened in Greece? I don’t live in Greece – I live in New Zealand! What next – a butterfly flaps its wings in Mexico and Im declared bankrupt???
Cameron Bagrie, chief economist at ANZ New Zealand, also expects the OCR to hit 5 percent over time.
I predict that one day I will die. I wonder if I can find someone to pay me to state the blindingly obvious. Rates go up, rates go down. At some point it will hit any number of numbers. Pick one – you too can be an economist!
“Along with ongoing growth in Australia and recovery in the United States, this has so far offset weak growth in some other export markets. Against this backdrop, New Zealand’s export commodity prices have increased sharply over the past few months, boosting export incomes.”
Sorry – even I cant turn that into plain English!
But basically – the banks will probably increase the amount of money they now want off you – cos NZ money just got more expensive. The reason they didn’t drop the rates when the OCR dropped was because Overseas money was too expensive. Either way – we get screwed.
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Why exactly should interest rates in New Zealand go up?
Filed under: Banks, Cost of living, Economics, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
The reserve bank meets tomorrow to tell us all whether our interest rates are going up. I’m not really sure why they need to bother because as usual the papers and so called “experts” have already told us they will be going up.
But why?
Well basically Reading through an awful lot of very boring guff, it’s because things are getting better financially for New Zealand. And what better way to celebrate than for some arse to tell us our mortgages have to get more expensive. I mean- it wouldn’t do for us to go out and try and spend some of the extra money we all apparently have burning a hole in our pockets!
I know life isn’t meant to be fair, but come on Mr Bollard. This year we are already getting an increase in GST, and due to the new emissions trading scheme the power companies are going to increase our power bills and petrol is going to have more tax on it, even Air New Zealand is upping the cost of flights to cover it. And it’s not as if the banks are charging fair mortgage rates in line with the the reserve bank anyway. The bank fixed rates are the same as when the OCR was twice what it is now. And yet it almost worth betting real money that an increase on Thursday will be a perfect excuse for the banks to charge even more.
I just don’t get it.
They giveth with one hand and they nick it straight back with the other!
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ASB Interest rate changes – humph!
I’ve been tracking interest rate changes at ASB for a while, because I needed to decide on when to fix my personal morgtae rates. I set that up a few months ago, but noticed at the weekend that the rates had gone up again. Today it seems that other banks have followed the lead, and mortgages are now firmly going up again. This is even though the Offical Cash Rate is stable and has been for months, at 2.5%.
So I’m afraid that mortgeages in New Zealand are still going to be ridiculously high and unless you intend to buy a house here in cash – you are still going to be paying an awful lot of money to buy a house here.
ASB INTEREST RATES
As at 11:56:19 a.m., Tuesday 14 April 2009
Interest rates are subject to change at any time without notice. However, once you draw down a housing fixed loan its rate is will not change during the term you selected. Term Rate
Housing Variable 6.40 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (6 Month) 5.50 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (12 Month) 5.70 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (18 Month) 6.00 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (24 Month) 6.25 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (36 Month) 6.75 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (48 Month) 7.25 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (60 Month) 7.50 % p.a.
ORBIT Home Loan 6.40 % p.a.
Societies Clubs and Churches 7.40 % p.a.
Second Mortgage 9.40 % p.a.
Flexible Finance Facility 6.90 % p.a.
As at 09:54:59 a.m., Tuesday 26 May 2009
Interest rates are subject to change at any time without notice. However, once you draw down a housing fixed loan its rate is will not change during the term you selected. Term Rate
Housing Variable 6.40 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (6 Month) 5.50 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (12 Month) 5.50 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (18 Month) 6.00 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (24 Month) 6.25 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (36 Month) 6.75 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (48 Month) 7.25 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (60 Month) 7.50 % p.a.
ORBIT Home Loan 6.40 % p.a.
Societies Clubs and Churches 7.40 % p.a.
Second Mortgage 9.40 % p.a.
Flexible Finance Facility 6.90 % p.a.
As at 02:10:44 p.m., Friday 5 June 2009
Interest rates are subject to change at any time without notice. However, once you draw down a housing fixed loan its rate is will not change during the term you selected. Term Rate
Housing Variable 6.40 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (6 Month) 5.50 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (12 Month) 5.50 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (18 Month) 6.00 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (24 Month) 6.25 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (36 Month) 6.95 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (48 Month) 7.55 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (60 Month) 8.00 % p.a.
ORBIT Home Loan 6.40 % p.a.
Societies Clubs and Churches 7.40 % p.a.
Second Mortgage 9.40 % p.a.
Flexible Finance Facility 6.90 % p.a.
As at 03:14:43 p.m., Friday 7 August 2009
Interest rates are subject to change at any time without notice. However, once you draw down a housing fixed loan its rate is will not change during the term you selected. Term Rate
Housing Variable 6.40 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (6 Month) 5.50 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (12 Month) 5.50 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (18 Month) 6.10 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (24 Month) 6.55 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (36 Month) 7.45 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (48 Month) 7.95 % p.a.
Housing Fixed (60 Month) 8.30 % p.a.
ORBIT Home Loan 6.40 % p.a.
Societies Clubs and Churches 7.40 % p.a.
Second Mortgage 9.40 % p.a.
Flexible Finance Facility 6.90 % p.a.
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