ANZ has reduced its three, four and five-years by 24, 31 and 16 basis points respectively.  Its new rates are now the lowest offered by a major bank by at least one basis point.  ANZ's new four-year rate of 8.19% is now the lowest offered by all lenders in our table, followed closely by ASB, Kiwibank and National Bank with 8.20%.

National Bank has also cut its three, four and five-year rates albeit by a smaller dose.  Its three-year rate dropped 16 points to 7.79%, its four-year rate was cut by 30 points to 8.20% and its five-year rate dropped by 10 points to 8.50%.

There have also been no mortgage rate changes this week.

Today we report that BNZ's Tony Alexander has changed his view and said now is the time to move from floating rates to fixed. See what he says here.

One of the main news themes has been the latest quarterly disclosure documents from the banks.  TSB Bank saw its its net profit surge in the December quarter and its mortgage book continued to grow.

In other news for brokers we have a story this week about the NZMBA being the first association to join up to a disputes resolution scheme. You can find out more about what it is doing here.

In the news the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)  pushed up the official cash rate by 0.25% today after a pause in February. The central bank's decision means that the official rate will rise to 4%.

We also look at how Westpac's mortgage book galloped away in the December quarter, while its net profit fell.

Economists are however, starting to look at what will happen at next Thursday's Official Cash Rate (OCR) announcement in Expert Views and in the BNZ Weekly overview, economist Tony Alexander looks at how low floating mortgage rates have not produced a surge in borrowing.

Meanwhile Kiwibank made changes at the other end of the yield curve, cutting 29 points from its four-year rate and 19 from its five-year rate putting them at 8.20% and 8.50% respectively.

In the news we update you on how BNZ profits and that it only wrote a small portion of home loan business in the December quarter.

Also over at www.landlords.co.nz Harcourts' chief executive Bryan Thomson says property sales numbers are predicted to improve over the next two months.

This makes its floating rate the fourth lowest alongside Housing Corp, BankDirect, National Bank and ASB all on 5.75%. BNZ's Total Money product is offering the lowest floating rate at 5.59% followed by Kiwibank at 5.65% and ANZ's 5.69%.

The median floating rate for non-bank lenders is 6.45% which is a significant 70 basis points higher.

PSIS also dropped its discounted floating rate by 20 basis points from 5.45% to 5.25%.

In Expert Views this week ANZ says the meaty chunks comment by Governor Bollard is now off the table and after originally pricing April Official Cash Rate hikes there are now tentative moves towards a July hike by some economists.

Napier Building Society also jumped up its two-year rate by 50 basis points to 7.00% which despite the large increase is still well below the median of 7.45% for non-bank lenders.

In our news section, BNZ economist Tony Alexander gives borrowing advice and analyses how the Reserve Bank of Australia paused in their tightening cycle after three rate rises and we check out Kiwibank's December quarter results.

All four lenders reduced one-year rates by 30 basis points as well as dropping three, four and five-year rates by 15, 30 and 25 basis points respectively.

ASB Bank now has the lowest four and five-year fixed rates for a major bank at 8.20% and 8.50% respectively.

Following on from Kiwibank and TSB Bank last week, SBS dropped its floating rate by 40 basis points to 5.90%  which puts it in line with the median for minor bank lenders and it also dropped its one-year rate by six basis points to 6.29%.

SBS also dropped its one-year rate by six basis points to 6.29% which is still the highest one-year rate for minor bank lenders.

All four lenders have reduced one-year rates by 30 basis points as well as dropping three, four and five-year rates by 15, 30 and 25 basis points respectively. ASB Bank now have the lowest four and five-year fixed rates for a major bank.

Three, four and five-year rates have been on the rise since February of last year, todays cuts are the first by any bank since then.

The latest REINZ house sales data is due out today, but we can tell you it will show the housing market was quiet in January. Read about it here.

HSBC already had the lowest five-year rate at 8.55% before today's change and the lenders with the lowest five-year rates next to HSBC are the National Bank and Public Trust on 8.60% so it is rolling in the 7% range on its own.

Nelson Building Society has also made changes, increasing its one year fixed rate by 25 basis points to 6.55% and its two-year rate by 15 basis points to 7.55%.

Both of these rates are now 15 basis points higher than the respective medians for non-bank lenders.

In Expert views we find that most economists are now pricing an Official Cash Rate hike in June after last week’s unemployment figures which were unexpectedly high and in the spotlight today is John Key’s first major speech of the year at the opening of Parliament, where he will outline his economic plans for the year and changes to the tax system.

BNZ's TotalMoney product is offering the lowest floating rate of 5.59%.

The other change Kiwibank made today was to its 18-month fixed rate, which was increased by 10 basis points.

Also AMP introduced new 18-month rates with the Standard rate being 6.69%, AMP Priority 6.59% and AMP Low Doc 6.89%.

In www.mortgagerates.co.nz news BNZ economist Tony Alexander looks at the Quarterly Labour Force survey analysing how it will impact the official cash rate.

The one-year rate was previously on the median for minor bank lenders at 6.25%.

Southern Cross Building Society also upped its one and two-year fixed rates by 20 basis points to 6.10% and 7.10% respectively.  Its new rates are still well below the median for these terms for non-bank lenders.

Westpac has also increased its one-year capped rate 20 points to 6.55%.

Southern Cross Building Society has upped its one and two-year fixed rates by 20 basis points today.  Its new rates are still well below the median rates for these terms for non-bank lenders.

That move will help keep upward pressure of home loan rates in New Zealand.

Meanwhile in our market mortgage rates remained unchanged. We wrap up the post OCR views of our economists here.

Perhaps the most important news was a comment from Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard, last Friday, where he said "it is possible there could be some meaty chunks to the upside".

Butler is also the chairman of the Code Committee which is establishing the rules around regulation. You can read more about his resignation here in our Broker News section.

Meanwhile there were no rate changes Monday and we will have a round up of what the economists are thinking later today (Tuesday).

Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard gave a speech on Friday afternoon about monetary policy. In it he said that new liquidity requirements placed on banks could keep rate hikes to a minimum. Story here.

Today Bollard makes a speech "The crisis and monetary policy: what we learned and where we are going" which we will watch closely to see if there are any hints about when rates will go up and more importantly how big will the jumps be? The standard 25 basis points or 50?

There are no rate changes to report, however we have a new graph which starkly shows how interest rates are very different to their five year averages.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard kept the official cash rate at a record-low 2.50% as expected, and said tame inflation data gave him breathing space to stick to his timeline of a mid-year rate hike.

The biggest news yesterday for borrowers was Moody's decision to upgrade New Zealand's banking sector. This means banks may end up paying less than before for money on the wholesale markets. We don't expect the Moodys announcement will bring rates down, rather it is more likely to slow the rate of increases.