{"id":558286,"date":"2026-08-04T02:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T02:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/558286\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T02:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T02:06:12","slug":"nzs-largest-bank-hikes-home-loan-rates-as-middle-east-conflict-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/558286\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ’s largest bank hikes home loan rates as Middle East conflict bite"},"content":{"rendered":"

The country’s largest bank has raised its fixed home loan rates by up to 0.26%, blaming a surge in wholesale funding costs driven by the Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n

ANZ said its fixed home loan rates would rise across terms of six months to three years, effective Thursday.<\/p>\n

Across the bank’s special fixed home loan rates, the six-month rose 0.10% to 4.79%, the one-year climbed 0.20% to 4.99%, the 18-month increased 0.26% to 5.45%, the two-year lifted 0.20% to 5.49% and the three-year rose 0.10% to 5.59%. <\/p>\n

Four and five-year rates were unchanged. <\/p>\n

Special rates apply to customers with a minimum of 20% equity and an ANZ transaction account with salary direct credited. Standard rates also increased. <\/p>\n

ANZ is not alone in the move after Westpac also lifted its own fixed rates on one to three-year terms last week, also citing renewed war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\"ANZ<\/p>\n

ANZ signage (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Personal banking managing director Grant Knuckey said the changes reflected a broad increase in wholesale interest rates amid ongoing global uncertainty.<\/p>\n

“Banks get their funding for lending from a variety of sources, including borrowing from global wholesale markets,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When global uncertainty pushes up those funding costs it puts upward pressure on lending interest rates including home loans.<\/p>\n

“Wholesale rates have increased significantly in recent months amid uncertainty surrounding the conflict in the Middle East, making offshore funding more expensive.<\/p>\n

“We aim to balance the needs of both borrowers and depositors while ensuring our rates reflect funding costs across the market.”<\/p>\n

Savers stand to benefit from higher returns, with term deposit rates rising by 0.10% to 0.30% across terms of six months to two years. <\/p>\n

The six-month rate lifted to 3.55%, which the bank said was the highest in the market, while the 18-month and two-year rates both rose 0.30%, to 4.20% and 4.30% respectively.<\/p>\n

\"Westpac<\/p>\n

Westpac bank (File photo). (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Knuckey said any customers experiencing financial pressure should contact the bank as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

“We’re here to support households and businesses and discuss the options that may be available to help.”<\/p>\n

The bank said around 44% of home loan customers were at least six months ahead on their repayments, with many choosing to maintain higher payments as rates fell earlier in the easing cycle. <\/p>\n

ANZ’s move follows a similar decision by Westpac<\/a>. The bank lifted its fixed rates on one to three-year terms last week, taking its one-year special rate up 0.20% to 4.99%.<\/p>\n

Westpac NZ managing director of consumer bank and wealth Helen Ryder said “re-escalating tensions in the Middle East have once again driven up wholesale interest rates, causing bank funding costs to rise”.<\/p>\n

“Most wholesale interest rates are now over 0.30% higher than they were a month ago, so with today’s changes we are passing on some of those higher costs but also absorbing some.”<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a cold snap closes roads, mothers plead for help to save stranded sons, and Ariana Grande\u2019s big decision. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The country’s largest bank has raised its fixed home loan rates by up to 0.26%, blaming a surge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69,244],"class_list":["post-558286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-personal-finance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}