ANZ, Westpac, Kiwibank drop home loan lending rates after Reserve Bank cash rate cut

12 hours ago

Banks have started dropping their mortgage rates after the Reserve Bank cut the Official Cash Rate from 3.25% to 3%.
Westpac cut both its fixed-term and floating mortgage lending rates after today's announcement.
It trimmed four basis points (bps) off its one-year, 18-month and three-year fixed-term special rates and 20bps

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RNZ News

2 hours ago

RNZ News

Retailers upbeat following OCR cut, but experts say next six months will be crucial

Talk of lower interest rates has retailers feeling more positive about the economy. Photo: Yiting Lin / RNZ Shopkeepers might have high hopes for an economic turnaround and better sales, but the data indicates otherwise. Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said Wednesday's cut to the official cash rate was unlikely to see shoppers flooding retail stores just yet. The Reserve Bank cut its cash rate by 25 basis points to a three-year low of 3 percent, and left the door open for further reductions . Young said the group's latest quarterly report from April to June, showed 62 percent of retailers did not meet their sales targets. But she said talk of lower interest rates had them feeling more positive about the economy. "Businesses are optimistic that we are through the worst of it, but their trading levels aren't showing that they are. Optimism is based on emotion and trading sales figures are based on fact." She said the next six months would be crucial for businesses facing closure and hoped to see the Reserve Bank deliver on more aggressive cuts. Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young. Photo: Supplied Previous OCR drops have not delivered the hoped-for economic boost, she said. "We're not seeing growth, we're not seeing many green shoots, we're seeing businesses that are still being challenged. Businesses closing, laying off staff, doing restructures. We know a lot of retailers are still trading at a loss. "It's a really difficult economic environment. Consumer confidence needs to be higher in order for retail to survive." Young said there was always a lag between rate changes and spending habits, and right now, people were focused on paying for the essentials. Meanwhile, Kelvin Davidson, chief property economist at Cotality was not expecting any big changes in the housing market following the lowered OCR . He said despite significant falls in the rate over the past year, the housing market had remained flat. "The influence of low mortgage rates is already out there, yet the housing market isn't really responding. "I think what were seeing on the other side of the ledger is restraint from the weak economy and weak labour market, people have lost jobs and even if you've kept the job there's that spillover impact on confidence." Davidson said until there was a shift in the economy and employment rates, the housing market was unlikely to change, and he expected it would remain subdued for the next 6-9 months. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

OCR Cut Welcome For Some While Govt Leaves Many Behind

Scoop

7 hours ago

Scoop

OCR Cut Welcome For Some While Govt Leaves Many Behind

Poverty and homelessness continue to grow because of this Government's decisions, despite the Reserve Bank's move to lower the Official Cash Rate (OCR). 'The Reserve Bank's decision to lower interest rates today will be welcome news for some but won't help the thousands this Government has pushed into homelessness and poverty,' says Green Party co-leader and spokesperson for Finance Chlöe Swarbrick. 'Monetary policy is a blunt instrument. It is fiscal policy - that is, the Government's choices on tax and spend - which dictates who wins and who loses in our economy. 'While the OCR cut will provide some relief for those with a mortgage, the number of New Zealanders left out in the cold continues to grow under Luxon's decisions. Reports out today show families being forced to choose between unsafe boarding houses, or living on the street. 'Cuts to the OCR do not end poverty or homelessness, nor arrest growing inequality. The Government knows it can take action to address these problems, but is instead choosing to make them worse. 'While this Government tells people they're making the 'hard choices' to push more kids into poverty and increase emissions, the Greens will continue to fight for an Aotearoa where everyone thrives and nobody is left behind,' says Chlöe Swarbrick.

NZ Herald

12 hours ago

NZ Herald