A switch has been flipped for mortgage borrowers with the two-year 4.99% interest rate the main banks are now offering.

Switching to a new loan provider is still proving popular for mortgage borrowers.

The country’s biggest adviser network NZFSG says banks are acutely aware of pain points for advisers.

Mortgage advisers have a lot more power than they realise when it comes to banks pushing out mortgage application times.

While the economy took its first step into recovery and ended 2024 on a better note, there are still pockets of significant weakness.

Compared to other countries, New Zealand’s banks infighting is mainly on cashbacks rather than interest rates in the mortgage sector.

New Zealander’s reliance on property capital gains in the mid-single digits is at an end.

After some catch-up in January, mortgage advisers say turn around times for home loan applications have again reached the “train wreck” stage they were at in October.

More than half of Kiwis under 25 think it is acceptable to inflate their income on mortgage and consumer credit loan applications.

Although fixed interest rates for mortgages are declining, borrowers still opted overwhelmingly for floating and short-term rates up to one year in January.

A mortgage adviser has reimbursed $5,556 in marketing and legal costs to a couple who complained to Financial Services Complaints Ltd (FSCL) that it took three months to find out they couldn’t get finance to buy a motel after they sold their house.

The scrap between mortgage advisers and the Commerce Commission over its insistence borrowers be presented with three actual offers from three different lenders has taken another turn.

For longer-term interest rates to fall the OCR would need to dip below 3%, ANZ says in its latest Property Focus report.

The latest figures from Centrix and the RBNZ show the drop in interest rates is not yet helping the surge in mortgage arrears and non-performing loans.

First home buyers who piled into the housing market at the end of last year and bought so they didn’t have to compete with the coming surge of investors, were on the right track.

There is no great benefit in sticking to floating, six- or 12-month rates for mortgage holders anymore.