Sitting back and taking a calm attitude
Westpac is sticking to its forecast of a 3.25% OCR bottom.
Westpac is sticking to its forecast of a 3.25% OCR bottom.
ANZ is adding two more OCR cuts to its economic forecast after next month’s expected drop to 3.25%.
Despite a recession, the number and value of home loans were up by 21% in the second half of last year, compared to the first half.
Although carded one- and two-year fixed mortgage rates are now about 200 basis points (bp) below last year’s high the vast majority of lower mortgage rates have yet to flow though.
Lobby group the Banking Reform Coalition wants the FMA to use its powers under the new Conduct of Financial Institutions (CoFI) regime to get tough on banks not passing on OCR cuts in mortgage rates immediately.
A mortgage adviser who allegedly submitted a false gifting certificate for a client’s home loan application has been charged by the FMA with dishonestly using a document.
Kiwibank says the economic environment simply demands more interest rate relief.
Newly minted HomeSec New Zealand manager Ziggy Munz is confident residential mortgage advisers will be able to add another arrow to their lending bow after an education programme he is planning.
Banks began announcing cuts to their mortgage rates immediately after the Reserve Bank cut its official cash rate (OCR) to 3.5% from 3.75%, as most economists and market pricing had predicted.
The Monetary Policy Committee today agreed to reduce the Official Cash Rate by 25 basis points to 3.5 percent.
With the Conduct of Financial Institutions (CoFI) legislation having kicked in from March 31, one of the things that the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) will be focusing on will be how quickly banks pass on changes in the official cash rate (OCR) to borrowers.
Two-year fixed mortgage rates are starting to slowly eat into the share of total lending by banks.
Westpac is going boldly where no other economists have gone. It says dropping the OCR on Wednesday is likely the wrong thing to do.
The Commerce Commission says its proposal that advisers have to submit three offers to clients has been "lost in translation".
As the country crawls out of recession, mortgage arrears have dropped slightly.
After a “constructive meeting” with new Commerce and Consumers Affairs Minister Scott Simpson, FAMNZ country manager Leigh Hodgetts says he seems to understand the Commerce Commission’s insistence on mortgage advisers presenting three completed offers to borrowers will create chaos.
The Reserve Bank has bowed to pressure from the Commerce Commission, the banks and submitters to parliament’s banking inquiry and will conduct a review of its bank capital requirements.
A switch has been flipped for mortgage borrowers with the two-year 4.99% interest rate the main banks are now offering.
Westpac gave an apparently contradictory answer as to why it was so slow to pass on the Reserve Bank’s interest rate cut last month to parliament’s finance and expenditure committee’s banking inquiry.
Switching to a new loan provider is still proving popular for mortgage borrowers.