An announcement was made by Kiwibank today that it was cutting its six month and one year mortgage rates by 34 and 10 basis points (bps), respectively.

The new standard six months rate of Kiwibank would be 5.45% with its standard one year rate being 5.59%.

It should be noted that after Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Grant Spencer commented that the RBNZ was disappointed as banks had not yet passed on the April 30 Official Cash Rate cut to variable mortgage rates. So, the move would be welcomed by New Zealand borrowers.

Banks had not reduced their variable rate since the 50 bps cut in the OCR. Presently the Kiwibank is offering the lowest bank variable rate at 5.99 per cent.

Furthermore, this morning saw AMP reducing its six month and one year mortgage rates by 29 and 19 bps respectively. Its new standard six month rate will be 5.50%, and new standard one year rate 5.60%.

For the second time in the week SBS reduced its one year mortgage rate as well, reduced by 20 bps to 5.50% today. It had further reduced the rates from 5.79% to 5.70%.