PHOTO: FILE
Kiwis with mortgages are in for another round of good news as major bank ASB has once again lowered its home lending rates, marking the third reduction in just two weeks.
The announcement was made on Monday morning, confirming that ASB has decreased its six-month term by 10 basis points, bringing it down from 7.39 percent to 7.29 percent. Additionally, the one-year term has been reduced by 5 basis points to 7.24 percent, while the two-year mortgage rate sees a cut of six basis points, now standing at 6.79 percent.
ASB’s executive general manager of personal banking, Adam Boyd, highlighted the significance of these reductions, especially for homeowners and prospective buyers, noting that a large majority of their fixed home lending customers opt for terms of 24 months or less.
However, these rate drops spell bad news for savers, as ASB has also adjusted its 12-month term deposit rate to 6 percent, along with decreases ranging from 5 to 20 basis points for four term deposit rates at longer terms.
Effective immediately, ASB’s rates now align with those of ANZ and BNZ for the one- and two-year terms, following similar reductions made by ASB in the previous week and at the end of the last month.
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This comes after mortgage holders experienced a brief respite at the end of the previous month when the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) maintained the Official Cash Rate at 5.5 percent, consistent with predictions from many economists.
The RBNZ’s decision was based on the observation that the New Zealand economy had generally evolved, with core inflation and most inflation measures showing a decline. The bank also noted that the risks associated with the inflation outlook were now more balanced.