Homeowners should ignore calls to fix their mortgage rates, some commentators say.
Philip Macalister, editor of Good Returns, said some banks had been “gently encouraging” people to move to a fixed rate but there was no good reason to do so, until there was some certainty of a mortgage rates rise in the near future.
“The key thing that will drive interest rates up is positive news out of the international markets. But there’s more downside news out of Europe than upside at present,” Macalister said.
“[New Zealand] is slowly ticking along but there is no sign of a sudden uplift.”
ANZ chief economist Cameron Bagrie said there was no way Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard would lift the official cash rate (OCR) “for a very long time”.
He said floating rates were currently about 20 basis points above fixed rates and while that might make it look like the right time to fix, “everyone knows you can always get a discount, anyway”.
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