It followed the trend of lenders cutting long-term fixed rates of two-years or more.
BNZ's GlobalPlus, Standard and Fly Buys products had a 10 basis point (bp) drop to their two-year rates, 20 bp cuts to three-year rates, a 31 bp drop to four-year rates and five-year rates were cut by 26 bps.
BNZ also introduced a three-year rate of 7.50% to its Classic Home Loans.
Southern Cross Building Society reduced its three-year rate to 7.69% from 7.80% and PSIS cut its two-year rate by 5bps to 7.10%, which is now in line with a few of the big banks.
The other big mover of the week was CBS Canterbury which cut rates across the board. It cut its floating rate by 46 bps to a competitive 5.99%. The biggest cut went to its three-year fixed rate which fell by 50 bps to 7.75%. The remainder of its terms were reduced by between 20 and 35 bps.
In expert views we look at fourth quarter GDP for 2009 which was above the Reserve Bank's expectations. Westpac says this will help to provide the evidence the Reserve Bank is looking for that the recovery is robust.
BNZ economist Tony Alexander also looks at retail spending levels falling which means the Reserve Bank may be able to delay tightening of monetary policy for longer.
In this week's graph we look at current mortgage rates compared to the five-year average and March 2009 rates.
