OCR increased but on hold
It has now been a month since Reserve Bank Goverenor, Graeme Wheeler, increased the Official Cash Rate by a further .25% (now 1% higher than it was 12 months ago) but we haven't seen any major shifts in interest rates since then.
Naturally all of the major lenders increased their Floating/Variable rates by the same as the increase in the OCR, which has now become standard practice. However fixed rates haven't moved and we're starting to see some good discounts on the shorter term rates.The reason for this is not so much in what the Reserve Bank has done, but what they have said. The most notable comment from the Reserve Bank Governor was that he would now pause the increase in the OCR for the remainder of 2014, some banks are suggesting it may even be the second quarter of 2015 before we see another increase!
That's good news for borrowers as it means the forcasted costs to the banks for their 2 and 3 year fixed rates have been decreased as they were predicting rates to increase sooner. The result of this is that there have been some new specials released by some banks but all banks are willing to discount their fixed rates for good customers.
As I often say, getting the best deal is a combination of a number of factors including presenting your application correctly and to the right lenders for your specific situation along with a number of other factors.If you'd like to discuss how you can get the very best deal then simply drop us an email and we'll go from there.
Adam Thompson 0800 230 235
adam@nzadvicegroup.co.nz
