BNZ cuts mortgage rates to draw level with rival ANZ
The move comes a week out from the next Official Cash Rate (OCR) decision, which is widely expected to be a cut of
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Otago Daily Times
2 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
MTF targeting more lending to businesses
MTF Finance chief executive Chris Lamers. PHOTO: SUPPLIED MTF is attributing an increase in business lending to its local, human-led finance model. About 30%-35% of MTF's lending is now to businesses and chief executive Chris Lamers believes there is potential for that figure to hit 40%-50%. The amount of business lending had been increasing over the last few years and Mr Lamers said there were several drivers for that. The world of finance was feeling more complex to people; there was such volatility in interest rates, people were having to understand more about the likes of the Official Cash Rate and how loans worked. They had a lot more on their minds about finance and their own financial situations at a time when there had been a pulling back of personal and local support from many financial services organisations, he said. MTF had bucked that trend, increasing the number of offices it had around the country. People liked the fact they could pick up the phone and talk through a loan with someone and on-the-spot decisions could be made. SMEs needed support — there had been a large number of businesses placed in liquidation in recent times — and MTF was focusing on that sector as a core strength. "I think there's really large untapped demand," Mr Lamers said. The North Island had been harder hit than the South Island and Auckland and Wellington had been harder hit than the regions. The lower South Island, including Invercargill, Dunedin and Queenstown, was "doing pretty well", he said. There were a lot of businesses doing "incredible work" in Dunedin, while the farming sector was starting to spend money again on the back of improved prices. MTF planned to keep investing in its products to improve its offering even further for small businesses, he said.
RNZ News
19 hours ago
- RNZ News
Households 'under siege', BNZ economist says
Photo: RNZ New Real Estate Institute (REINZ) data showing a weak housing market, particularly in Auckland, is further evidence of the "air pocket" the economy hit in the middle of this year, one economist says. REINZ has released its data for July which shows seasonally adjusted sales counts at a national level were down. The House Price Index , which smoothes out variations in the median sale price, was up 0.1 percent year-on-year on a national basis but down 0.4 percent on the month before. For Auckland it was down 0.1 percent year-on-year and down 1.8 percent month-on-month. Papakura values were down 5.2 percent compared to 2024, while New Plymouth's were up 4.9 percent and Invercargill's 7.8 percent. BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said he had been looking at the numbers to validate or disprove what looked like a "stumble" in the housing market in June. "It looks like if anything the housing market was a little weaker again in July so it does appear that markets have lost some of that relatively modest momentum that was there and it's faltering a little bit." He said Auckland was noticeably softer than the rest of the country, particularly the South Island. "The unemployment figures we got last week and now the housing market as well - it just kind of adds to all those other signs and evidence we're getting in the economic numbers that the country hit something of a wobble or an air pocket in the middle part of the year." He said the labour market had weakened and cost of living pressures had intensified. "Food prices in particular are putting extra pressure on the household budget. At the same time, as it was pointed out last week, wage growth is cooling down so in some ways it feels like the average household is sort of under siege at the moment. That's causing faltering demand across a lot of different areas of the economy and the housing market would be one." ANZ's economists noted that house prices were now 0.4 percent above their most recent low in October 2024. "Given recent weakness in the market, we see some downside risk to our forecast that prices will end 2025 up 2.5 percent year-on-year. We remain of the view that three further cuts in the OCR will be needed to shore up the economy and stabilise inflation around the Reserve Bank's target midpoint. Lower interest rates and a cyclical recovery are likely to see the housing market gradually strengthen over the next year, but we don't expect prices to race away." Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said the market was unusually well balanced. "While lower mortgage rates have helped to spur higher levels of activity compared to a year ago, demand is being matched by an ample supply of homes hitting the market. As a result, there has been little upward pressure on sale prices. "House sales were down 2.5 percent in seasonally adjusted terms in July, the third straight monthly decline. The number of sales is typically understated on the first release, so we expect that this will be later revised to around flat. Sales were up 4 percent on a year ago; it was around this time last year that the level of activity in the market took a marked step up, so year-on-year comparisons will look less impressive from here on." When seasonally adjusted, the house price index was down 0.5 percent in July and down 1.2 percent in Auckland, Gordon said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
20 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Rate cutting merry-go-round: Kiwibank latest lender to cut mortgage rates ahead of OCR
Forsyth Barr Investment Adviser Mark Richardson joins Ryan Bridge on Herald NOW to discuss whether the time is right to pay down debts or invest that spare cash. Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Already a subscriber? Sign in here Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. The mortgage rate cutting merry-go-round is in full swing as a third major bank moves to lower its home loan rates. Kiwibank said from today it was dropping some of its fixed home loan and term deposit rates ahead of an expected Official Cash Rate (OCR) cut next week. The bank's special one-year fixed mortgage rate will decrease 10 basis points (bps) to 4.79%, matching moves this week by ANZ and BNZ. Kiwibank is cutting its special two-year fixed term rate by 6bps to 4.89%. The largest drop is a 20bps cut to its six-month special (5.09%) and standard (5.99%) rates.
