ASB is lowering both it one-year and two-year home loan rates. Photo: pixabay
ASB is the latest bank to bring its one-year fixed home loan below 5 percent.
In recent days, ANZ, Kiwibank, BNZ and Westpac have all lowered their one-year rate to 4.99 percent.
They previously only offered this rate for two years.
BNZ also cut its 18-month rate to 4.95 percent.
Now, ASB is lowering both its one-year and two-year rate to 4.99 percent.
It will drop its six-month rate to 5.59 percent.
"The rate changes reflect our ongoing commitment to supporting customers in achieving their home ownership goals. We've seen growing interest in the 24-month term," ASB's executive general manager Adam Boyd said.
ASB also lowered some of its term deposit rates by between 10 and 35 basis points.
"We are mindful that lower rates affect home owners and savers differently. We encourage anyone looking for guidance and advice to get in touch with us," Boyd said.
Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said rates could drop further if the official cash rate continued to fall further, particularly if the Reserve Bank revised down its view of the economy.
Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said it was possible rates could drop further. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
But he said it was notable that banks had shifted away from moving their rates as the official cash rate dropped.
It is now more than a week since the OCR was cut to 3.5 percent.
Olsen said that probably indicated that there were more factors going in to pricing decisions for banks, taking a wider view of the macroeconomic environment.
He said banks also seemed to want to make a marketing impact with the announcement of their cuts, and not reveal them at the same time as each other, or the OCR.
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