Expectations of a cut in the Official Cash Rate by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand provided the much-needed trigger for banks to lower mortgage rates, following Kiwibank's attempts to stir activity in a near-stagnant market. This week saw three of the four Australian banks lower home-loan rates across some fixed terms. The bank yet to move is Bank of New Zealand. Other banks, such as TSB Bank, and some non-bank lending institutions also followed the big banks in lowering some fixed mortgage rates. In their statements, banks cited a drop in wholesale funding costs in anticipation of a cut in the RBNZ's OCR as the reason for lowering mortgages rates. But even without such expectations, some rate cuts were inevitable after Kiwibank's recent announcement of a cut in its six-month fixed rate for a short period - in line with a similar move for its one-year rate in January. The market leader has been HSBC, which announced a steep rate cut to bring its six-month rate down to 4.99 per cent, but with some conditions, such as size of loan attached.   While none of the banks lowered their variable home loan rate, ASB said it is monitoring its rate leading up to the OCR announcement, as its wholesale call and 90-day rates  reflect little change at the moment. Barely days after the Christchurch earthquake economists began calling for a 50-basis-point cut in the OCR as they believed a monetary policy move was needed, along with fiscal measures from the Government.  Prime Minister John Key is reported to have pointed at what was happening with market pricing in expectation of a cut from the RBNZ, himself endorsing such expectations. "That would probably be my expectation, that the Reserve Bank would cut, but it's for them to determine that," Key is quoted as saying. A cut in home loan rates would provide a much-needed boost to a housing market that has not been able to get back on its feet since the GFC. The latest figures show housing loans grew just 1.7 per cent year-on-year in January, to NZ$171 billion. This was the slowest pace of growth since at least 1999 and sharply down from the peak of over 17 per cent growth during 2004.