BNZ lifts home loan rates, second to do so

Wednesday, 18 March 2026

Another big four bank is raising fixed home loan rates, with BNZ announcing changes to its offerings for periods of 18-months or more.

The bank’s changes to its standard rates came on the same day as Westpac, who had earlier announced rates rises, and in a move that followed a lowering of rates by that bank just a few weeks ago.

At BNZ, the one year and six months rates remained unchanged at 4.49%, while the bank’s standard rate for 18-months lifted 0.05% to 4.69%, on Wednesday.

The two-year rate lifted 0.20% to 4.89%, the three-year rate went to 5.29%, up 0.30%, the four-year rate went to 5.49%, up 0.30%, and the standard five-year rate was 5.69%, up 0.40%. These rate changes were effective immediately.

BNZ did not provide commentary with the statement announcing the changes, but the timing suggested the cause for change may have been the same as Westpac.

That bank’s managing director of product, sustainability and marketing, Sarah Hearn, said in a statement Tuesday the funding costs for lenders had been driven up by significant increases in longer-term wholesale rates.

These changes in “recent weeks” were what had led that bank to lift rates.

The lifting of rates came on the back of a ‘no change’ decision by the Reserve Bank at the February meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, where the Official Cash Rate was held at 2.25%.

That decision came as inflation edged out of the central bank’s target range, at 3.1%, but a decision was not made to lift the OCR in a bid to dampen it at that time.

The next Reserve Bank OCR decision was due April 8.

CLARIFICATION: The new rates have been updated in the reporting after the bank provided additional information.