March 18, 2002
Fixed Mortgage Interest Rates Slowly Firm, Floating Rates Remain Stable
Fixed mortgage interest rates have continued to slowly rise, reflecting the fact that the home mortgage market is
preparing for a tightening of monetary policy. The majority of economists expect The Reserve Bank to raise the Official
Cash Rate over it’s next three OCR reviews, Mr Rex Hadley, National President of the Real Estate Institute of New
Zealand said today.
He said, “In the face of threatened worldwide recession, The Reserve Bank lowered the OCR to stimulate the economy. Now
that there is strong evidence that international markets have recovered and that the New Zealand economy is
strengthening, it is likely the OCR will firm over the next six months, and with it, interest rates.”
“For the second month running, lending institutions have increased fixed rates by 0.10 to 0.30 per cent, and floating
rates remain completely unchanged, ranging between 6.24 and 6.70 per cent.
As of March 10, one year fixed rates range between 6.10 and 7.00 per cent, compared with 5.95 and 6.70 per cent to
February 10; two year rates range between 6.95 and 7.65 compared to 6.80 and 7.45 per cent last month; three year fixed
rates range between 7.40 to 8.00, compared to 7.25 to 7.82 per cent last month; while four and five year rates range
between 7.89 to 8.30 per cent, compared to 7.49 to 8.05 per cent last month.
-ENDS-