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ANZ Bank drops some home loan and business interest rates

Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Inflation falling, calls for interest rate cuts

The 3-year special rate is dropping 36 basis points to 5.99% pa, and the floating variable home loan rate is dropping 15 basis points to 8.49% pa.

ANZ said interest rate cuts for businesses included a 15-basis point drop to the Business Floating and Business Overdraft base rate.

ANZ’s latest home loan changes follows similar moves by BNZ and Westpac. Banks are tipping mortgage rates will fall by up to 2% over the next 12 months.

ANZ is dropping some of its home loan and business lending rates.

The 3-year special rate is dropping 36 basis points to 5.99% pa, and the floating variable home loan rate is dropping 15 basis points to 8.49% pa.

ANZ is cutting its home loan interest rates.
ANZ is cutting its home loan interest rates.

The changes come two weeks after the bank moved to drop rates across the board. The 2-year special rate was cut to 6.49% pa and the 1-year special rate was cut to 6.85% pa.

On Wednesday, ANZ said interest rate cuts for businesses included a 15-basis point drop to the Business Floating and Business Overdraft base rate.

ANZ’s latest home loan changes follows similar moves by BNZ and Westpac. Banks are tipping mortgage rates will fall by up to 2% over the next 12 months.

But how dramatically rates fall depends on what the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) does with the official cash rate (OCR).

Kiwibank calls the Reserve Bank's statement dovish, predicting a rate cut by November. With a softened tone and faster inflation fall projections, Kiwibank remains confident in a 2023 rate cut, which is good news for households and businesses.

Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr told Stuff earlier this month the bank had long predicted the RBNZ would begin to cut the OCR in November.

That view had been an outlier among economists, but was now the consensus, he said.

“Beyond November we have the RBNZ cutting by 25 basis points at every meeting until they get back to neutral around 2.5% to 3%.”

Cuts of that scale could lead to mortgage rates of 7% falling closer to 5%, Kerr said.

ANZ said on Wednesday it was able to cut its home loan interest rates following the OCR announcement in July.

“We’ve seen a drop in wholesale rates so we’re able to pass on further savings to our customers,” managing director for business Lorraine Mapu said in a statement.

The new ANZ rates will be effective from the following dates: