While the OCR is expected to hold at 5.50% at next month’s OCR review, at least three banks – ANZ, Westpac, HSBC – believe it will rise to 5.75% at the November RBNZ meeting. That’s despite the Reserve Bank’s indication it is not expecting to hike further in this cycle.

ANZ reckons house prices will now lift 4% over the second half of this year. This is up 1% from its previous forecast of 3%.

One of the most annoying things for mortgage adviser Brenda Murney of Vega is how banks assess affordability.

Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr says interest rate cuts could start as early as May next year.

Mortgage completion rates are being used as a tool by banks to monitor the loyalty, effectiveness and servicing need for their adviser channel.

The FMA and Commerce Commission have given lenders a steer on how to help customers in financial difficulty.

Whether New Zealand is still in a recession or not will be known on Thursday when GDP figures for the second quarter of this year are revealed on Thursday.

As the residential market turns around from a deep downturn, properties for sale are spending less time on the market and prices have increased for the first time in 10 months.

The self-styled “most open minded lender” Bizcap has written 5,000 loans for small businesses worth about $235,000,000 since its arrival in New Zealand two years ago, but has also had a number of defaults.

Unsecured loans are the way of the future for small businesses, Lend Capital co-founder Bill Baker says.

The latest REINZ property market figures shows a convincing turnaround in fortunes.

Mortgage borrowers and businesses will feel more pain as inflation stays high until the end of next year, Treasury says in its pre-election economic and fiscal update (Prefu).

Any new government after the October election must rein in an out-of-control Reserve Bank and narrow its focus to long-term price stability, says the New Zealand Initiative.

National won’t scrap the Commerce Commission’s market study into banking competitiveness and would wait for the final report before a possible further probe.

The commercial property sector is deeply concerned about Labour and National policies to remove depreciation for commercial and industrial buildings.

Optimism there will be OCR and interest rate cuts next year could be misplaced.