Anxious you’ve missed the moment to secure a low mortgage rate? Here’s some perspective

Thursday, 18 December 2025

A large cohort of home owners waiting for their fixed term mortgages to roll over will be anxiously wondering if they’ve missed the chance to secure a low rate.

Within the next two quarters about 40 percent of fixed mortgages will roll over, Stuff money editor Damien Venuto told Sam Hayes.

BNZ and ASB raised their longer term fixed mortgage rates on Thursday, following moves from Westpac and ANZ, meaning all the big four banks have raised longer term rates in the past week or so.

‘Have I missed my opportunity?’

“A lot of people are looking at the rates, they're trickling upwards, and they're thinking, oh my goodness, have I missed my opportunity,” Venuto said.

“The reality, however, is that if you take that longer term view, two years ago you would have been sitting on a rate of around 7%. Today that rate is 4.75%, even with the uptick.”

That difference is massive, Venuto said, citing the example of a $500,000 mortgage.

“You're talking about the difference between $3300 that you're paying on a monthly basis to $2600.

“So you're talking about $700 in the back pocket of a family. Now, what you have there is an opportunity. You can either spend that money on whatever discretionary item you want, or you can put that back into your mortgage.

“What we have to realise right now, is that there's no guarantee that interest rates are gonna stay low forever, so it's an opportunity for you to pay down that capital, that principal amount on your mortgage and save so much time over the course of your mortgage.”

GDP figures show economic growth

Meanwhile, Stats NZ on Thursday reported the economy had grown 1.1% in the three months to September.

It was a a slightly stronger upswing than most forecasters had been expecting.

Venuto said that showed the Reserve Bank’s official interest rate (OCR) cuts had been doing what they’re supposed to do.

“It feels like the economy is now getting to the stage where the Reserve Bank will be comfortable with it, so a lot of the economists that I've been speaking to have suggested that we're gonna see an OCR lift as early as the middle of next year, or at least in the latter stages of next year.

“So yes. There is no guarantee that interest rates are gonna stay, stay low. We've already seen that being priced into the market right now with this uptake from the big four banks.

“I think that that could continue as we progress through 2026.”