Lenders slow to move on mortgage rates
Mortgage lenders are still catching up with the cash rate cut announced on March 3, with many yet to respond to last week's RBA announcement on rates.Those that have moved have generally followed the template set by Commonwealth Bank last week, when it left its standard variable mortgage rate unchanged but cut fixed rates and business loan rates.Canstar reports that over the past week 16 lenders cut variable rates for both owner occupiers and investors. Nine lenders cut fixed rates."These cuts are largely a result of the rate cut on March 3," Canstar said in its latest Weekly Interest Rate Summary.The average standard variable rate for owner occupiers paying principal and interest is 3.65 per cent, with 2.44 per cent the lowest rate in the Canstar database.Among the big banks, ANZ is the only one to have changed its standard variable rate in response to last week's RBA announcement, cutting it by 15 basis points.ANZ also cut its two-year fixed owner occupier home loan rate by 49 bps.Commonwealth Bank left its standard variable rate unchanged but cut the rate on one, two and three-year fixed rate home loans by 70 bps to 2.29 per cent.CBA cut the rate on cash-linked small business loans by 100 bps.Westpac also left the standard variable rate unchanged. It matched CBA's offer of 2.29 per cent for one, two and three-year fixed rates for owner occupiers paying principal and interest.It cut variable rates on cash-based small business loans by 100 bps and small business overdraft rates by 200 bps.NAB left its standard variable rate unchanged cut fixed-term home loan rates by up to 60 bps and small business loan rates by 100 bps.MyState announced yesterday that it will not make any change to its standard variable mortgage rate. One, two and three-year fixed rates are being reduced to 2.39 per cent for loans with loan-to-valuation ratios of less than 80 per cent.MyState is cutting business loan rates by 100 bps and business overdrafts by 155 bps.ME Bank cut all its fixed-term home loan rates. The one-year rate was cut by 134 bps to 2.29 per cent, its two-year rate was cut by 69 bps to 2.19 per cent and its three-year rate by 89 bps to 2.29 per cent.Its variable home loan rate remains unchanged.ME chief executive Jamie McPhee said in a statement: "Fixed rates give borrowers repayment certainty. By offering record low one, two and three-year fixed rates and competitive rates across a range of other terms, borrowers can achieve peace of mind by locking in a historically low repayment."